


Mystery Infinity

by liftingrocks



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Multi-Fandom, Scooby Doo - All Media Types, Scooby-Doo! (Live-action Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ashes Scene in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Childhood Memories, Coping, Discovery, F/M, Growing Up, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Gems, Kid Peter Quill, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mixtape, Past Character Death, Peter Quill Feels, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Reunions, Sad and Happy, Soul Stone (Marvel), Suspense, This idea makes my heart go !!, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-05-03 08:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 36,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14564718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liftingrocks/pseuds/liftingrocks
Summary: 1988: The best, worse possible year for young Peter Quill, taken away from his new friends in Coolsville.2018: A distress signal that got some meddling kids and a dumb dog involved in the most difficult mystery of all... saving not just an old friend, but the universe.





	1. Send Me On My Way

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to Mystery Infinity! a.k.a the purest idea possible that i'm still convinced happened! you know Mystery Inc. is going to unmask Thanos with the help of the Avengers and the biggest hero of all, Peter Quill. 
> 
> this work does contain some Infinity War spoilers, so be careful. 
> 
> subscribe, comment, kudos, bookmark, and sing away! I hope you enjoy :) 
> 
> -make sure you plug your headphones in and listen to the nostalgia songs that are the theme of each chapter!  
> -follow my twitter @cosmicreas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by rusted root

September 1st, 1988 - Coolsville, Missouri. 

 

680 AM Radio. How Meredith Quill wanted to wake up, every day. Spinning her fingers to turn up her radio dial to precisely one of her favorite songs.

 

As soon as the opening chords struck, Peter Quill woke up from his first day of school sleep and threw the nearest pillow over his head. If he sung along with his mom, she knew he would be awake. That meant he would have to get ready for school. Peter wanted to sleep in. Or listen to the radio all day.

 

“Good morning Peter” Meredith whispered cheerfully, dancing into her son’s room. Some of Peter’s boxes from the Quill family’s recent move were unpacked, other’s weren’t. 

 

“Hi mom.” Peter mumbled, fluttering his eyes open as he looked in her direction. Meredith sat down on his bed, smoothing out the covers he slept on all night. “Where’s… dad.” 

 

Peter wasn’t sleep talking; he was curious. He knew what his mom was going to say already because it was the same every time:

“Your father isn’t with us right now. He’ll be back soon, I know it.”  Where was his father this time? Working on a movie? On a business trip? Whatever it was, Peter worried. But in his heart, he knew his father was living his life.. away from home. So Peter nodded, believing his mother’s words again as he leaned against the headboard of his bed, yawning.

 

“Big day.” Meredith reached out to brush Peter’s cheek. Peter usually wasn’t a nervous person. Today was a lot to handle, though. Third grade in a new town. “Breakfast is on the table. Your lunch is in your backpack. Oh, and at 6:30 the radio station has this Coolsville news.” She continued to smile at her son. “Get dressed.”

 

As his mother walked away, Peter sprung into action, wearing a very nice red and black flannel with a gray undershirt and some jeans. While listening to the recent radio hits and hearing the dull Coolsville news, Peter finished his breakfast and placed his backpack over his shoulders, before turning around to find his mom looking down on him.

 

“I love you. Have a good day, my little starlord.” 

 

Peter grabbed his lunch and stuffed it into his backpack as he waved. “I love you mom!”

 

Meredith shut the door behind her son as she tied her blonde hair up into a ponytail. She was planning on going for a morning jog. With her walkman in hand and headphones in, she briskly jogged down Lee Street and towards the local Dairy Queen.

* * *

 

Peter himself ran down the corner of Lee Street and towards the sign that said bus stop. 

 

He ran all the way up to a boy with blonde hair, with an ascot tucked between his blue and white sweater.

 

“Hey! What’s up?” His voice sounded very pleased with himself as he casually extended his right hand for a handshake. 

 

“Fred! Fred!” A voice chirped. That voice sped down her driveway and into the bus stop to hug the boy. The young girl had the shiniest, orange hair, and lots of makeup on. Her purple dress was wrinkled, as she zipped up one of her boots after her hug. 

 

_She was... hot._

 

This girl distracted Fred so much he forgot about Peter. Peter stood there awkwardly, shifting his gaze towards the street, hoping his bus would relieve him from more dreaded social interaction.

 

Then, another boy casually walked down the street. He looked like he rolled right out of bed, messy hair and all. His shirt was a lime green, with baggy, khaki pants. 

 

“Like, I didn’t know you guys would be here!” He said energetically. “Fred, Daphne, and… Hmmm. Like, my new best friend?” 

 

“Best friend? I think we’ve only known each other for 10 seconds!” Peter responded in shock. He was cool with this green boy. Maybe his name was lime or something. Kiwi.

 

“I’m Shaggy. Shaggy Rogers.”

 

_Just Shaggy._

 

“I’m Peter Quill. But people call me Starlord.” Peter smiled at the three kids surrounding him at the bus stop. He wanted to sound as cool as possible. 

 

“Hi Peter. I’m Daphne.” The girl waved and then held hands with Fred.

 

“I’m Fred.” The blonde boy said in a deep voice.

 

More footsteps. 

 

“I know formal introductions are happening without me, so I just wanted to remind everyone my name is Velma!” A beautiful, brunette girl adjusted her glasses and smiled warmly, as bright as her orange dress. “I left some cookies in your mailbox. I know you’re new to the neighborhood so my mom made me bring cookies to your house.” She explained to Peter.

 

“Wow, thanks. I’m Peter.” He introduced himself again. He forgot what it was like to be so involved what playing the part of a new kid involved. “My mom is probably out for a run. And my dad, he’s shooting his newest movie.” 

 

“Your dad's a movie star?” Daphne was in shock as the kids saw the bus roll down Lee Street and to the bus stop sign. 

 

“Yeah, my dad is David Hasselhoff..” Peter acted like it was no big deal as he told the story to the kids climbed onto the bus.

 

Fred and Daphne sat across from Shaggy and Peter, as Velma sat behind them. Peter pulled the picture of his ‘dad’ back into his pocket and smiled to himself. Maybe he was fitting in.

 

* * *

 

 

The bus had stopped at it’s final destination, Coolsville Elementary School. And lucky for the kids on Lee Street, they all got assigned into the same class.

 

 

Third grade. That grade in between, being a kid and being a real kid. Informational sheets. Emergency contacts, class supplies, fire drill procedures, assigned seats. Most importantly, the lunch bell.

 

 

Fred had already found a group of boys to sit with at a table, while Daphne and Velma had sat near some girls they knew. 

 

Peter took a seat by himself and looked through his backpack until he found his brown paper bag lunch and reached inside. 

 

He found the sandwich his mom made along with some chips and a milk carton. He also found his walkman, his tape, and headphones, and a note attached to it. 

 

“Third grade is going to rock! Have a great first day, Starlord. Love, Mom”

Peter was about to slip his headphones on before someone sat down beside him. 

 

“Hi Shaggy.”

 

“Like, what’s up Peter?” Shaggy’s stomach grumbled as he sat down with a tray of turkey fricassee, the school lunch. “What’s that?” He pointed to the contraption in front of his classmate.

 

“I dunno, it’s just my mixtape.” Peter’s cheeks flushed. “My music for the bus ride home.” 

 

“Like, your family loves you! I wish my mom wrote me notes but like, she is always at the hospital.” Shaggy said through a mouthful of turkey. “I want your dads autograph, like Hasselhoff is like, my favorite!”

 

Peter nodded as he sipped his milk, impressed that Shaggy remembered his father. “I’ll see what I can do.” 

 

_Maybe, if my dad ever came back, he could give my friends his autograph._

 

When Peter was done with his lunch, he crumpled his brown paper bag and threw it into the trash. It felt like the whole third grade was staring at him, but he told himself he wouldn’t care. It was like he was famous or something.

 

The dismissal announcements blared over the loudspeakers.

 

The first day was over.

 

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Peter were going home.

 

Back to Lee Street.


	2. We Built This City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by starship

Students just didn’t throw paper airplanes around on the bus. They laughed a lot, played hand games, and even slept. The seating configuration was the same as before, but this time Shaggy didn’t talk to Peter because Peter preferred to listen to his music.

 

“Like, Peter, it’s our stop!” Shaggy told him.

 

Peter, a little disoriented, took his headphones off and put his backpack on, walking off the bus with the other kids at his spot.

 

“Ok gang, want to walk to Dairy Queen?” Fred turned around to ask his friends.

 

Gang? Since when was Peter a gang member?

 

“Yes!” Daphne agreed. 

 

“I’m in.” Velma fixed her glasses.

 

“Like, of course!” Shaggy told his friends. “Peter?” 

 

“Yeah. I’ll go.” His voice was a little uncertain because usually he had to ask his mom for permission to go. Since he was a third grader, why did he need permission from his mom? 

 

“Great. We can work on homework together. In fact, I know all of my information for my emergency contacts.” Velma admit. 

 

“It’s on me. My dad let me keep all of my allowance in my bag this year.” Fred was proud of himself. 

 

The five friends walked down Lee Street and turned the corner to go up to the ordering window. It was a perfect September day.

 

Fred took everyone’s ice cream orders, because Dairy Queen ice cream was the best possible thing. 

* * *

 

The kids sat down at a red picnic table, ice creams in hand. Peter got a small chocolate cone. Shaggy shared his banana split with everyone. Daphne just wanted a dish of strawberry. Fred got a swirl. Velma got a small Blizzard.

 

“Like, I just got a banana split brain freeze!” Shaggy giggled, breaking the silence.

 

“To the first day of school!” Fred held his ice cream up in the air and motioned for a cheers to a good year.

 

Peter couldn’t help but smile through the cold of his treat. He had his walkman in his pocket and he was surrounded by the best kids in his neighborhood. He felt like he belonged… a little more than before. Something else caught his attention. 

 

There was a girl. A blonde, curly haired girl in a pink jumper who took a lick at her vanilla cone. And when Peter saw her, he couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Peter.. you ok?” Fred waved towards Peter, who was caught in his thoughts about the girl again.

 

“I’m fine.” He shook his head and blinked back into the present, smiling small towards his friends. 

 

“Jinkies!” Velma pointed behind the table and towards the woods.

 

“Jinkies?” Peter raised an eyebrow. He had never heard that before. He did hear of jimmies. Like instead of sprinkles, jimmies. But enough of that.

 

“It’s like, one of her sayings.” Shaggy ducked, as the kids turned around.

* * *

 

“There is a mysterious glowing light back there.” Velma, Blizzard in hand, squinted before hopping up from the picnic table and walking into the woods.

 

“How can something glow in the light?” Fred questioned, following Velma’s lead.

 

Daphne just giggled, but linked arms with Fred, walking into the forest.

 

Shaggy sprung up from the table and ran towards his friends. Peter, and the banana split, were left at the table. “Like, Peter, if we’re a banana split sundae, you’re the bowl! We can’t like, do this without you!” 

 

“Do what?” Peter got confused.

 

“Like, solve this mystery!” Shaggy exclaimed.

 

“A light is a mystery to you guys?” Peter scratched his head. Weird. A million songs were buzzing in his head, but he didn’t want to ruin the mood. Farther away from the Dairy Queen, and further into the woods. He glanced over his shoulder, and he saw the girl walk away from her table.

 

“Of course it’s a mystery. We’re a gang. We like to solve them locally. Everybody here… has that thing. I’m the pretty one. Velma’s the brains. Shaggy is the funny one. Fred is the leader.”

 

Peter listened to Daphne as her purple boots stomped through the woods. As Velma squat down, Peter thought to himself that he could be the leader instead of Fred.

 

“You like, music?” She said, plainly. “Anyways… look at that!”

 

_No, I actually liked that blonde girl back there._

 

The kids sat down around the blue, glowing plant. 

 

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Velma slid onto the soil and crossed her legs, examining the glow carefully. “It has a pulse!”

 

“What is it? A plant?” Fred thought he was being helpful.

 

“It’s barely a plant… see how fragile the petals are? It’s only a seedling!” Velma cooed, brushing the brown winding leaves around the blue heart of the seed.

 

The sun was glistening through the trees as each kid tried to guess about why this plant was here. Then, the silence broke.

 

“Ruh roh!” Then, a bark.

 

A petite mocha Great Dane stuck up its paws. 

 

“Ego’s.” The small dog began to shake, and jump into Shaggy’s lap.

 

“Like, where did this guy come from?” Shaggy began to scratch the dog.

 

“That’s it, I’m calling animal control.” Daphne seemed very upset. “This isn’t a mystery, this is rabies.”

“Are you lost? We’ll get you home, boy.” Fred looked into the dog’s animated, white eyes.

 

The dog stopped shaking, and turned its collar over. 

 

“Scooby Doo.” Peter read from the tag.

 

“Your name’s Scooby?” Velma got up off the ground and looked at the plant, then back at Scooby.

 

“Ego’s. Plant.” The dog said.

 

“Egos? The only thing here that has an ego here is you, annoying dog.” Peter said. “Let’s just go home.”

 

“Eggos? I love those!” Shaggy stuck his tongue out and Scooby did at the same time.

 

“Ok guys. I say we break up and look for clues. Daphne and I will do some research. Peter, you can go home without anything. You gotta get home, since you’re the new kid. Wait. Maybe, figure out a name for our gang. Shaggy, take this dog home. Velma, work on that plant.” Fred instructed the kids like a leader would, before walking out of the woods with Daphne.

 

“C’mon Scoob. Let’s go home. Oh. My name is Shaggy by the way. It’s actually Norville, but Shaggy is just fine.”

 

“Rokay Raggy.” Scooby responded, as Peter and Velma were the only two left standing by the plant. 

 

“He can talk?!” Peter mouthed, eyes wide.

 

“Yeah. Something about him, and the plant. Anyways, Peter, it’s time to go home. I got this plant.” Velma sniffled, gripping her hand over the seedling and taking it out of the ground. She felt a thud, and opened her eyes again. 

 

“Gang stuff.” Peter was amazed as he walked away from the trees and past the Dairy Queen, all the way to Lee Street as he opened his front door and sighed.

 

He knew that sound anywhere, a Walkman slamming to the ground. Meredith ran down the stairs and hugged Peter immediately.

 

“I haven’t seen you all day, Peter. Oh my gosh. I love you. It’s time for bed.” She ushered him up the stairs. “Where were you all afternoon?” 

 

“Dairy Queen with my friends.” He went into his room, changing into his pajamas as he walked across the hall to his mom’s room.

 

“Mom, before I go to bed can we listen to your music?” He asked her politely. Peter had regrets about not asking his mom to go, but he was in third grade and he could handle himself.

  
“Come here. Of course. You don’t know how much I love you, my little starlord.” She picked her walkman up off the floor and opened each ear of the headphones to face outward, so she could listen and Peter could listen at the same time.

 

“Did you get those cookies in the mailbox?” Peter asked as he could hear the audible lyrics that both his mother and him loved. He had to admit, if it weren’t for his mother, he wouldn’t love music as much.

 

“I did. Mrs. Dinkley was so thoughtful… you will definitely be getting some in your lunch bag soon.” Mrs. Quill patted Peter’s forehead as she pulled him closer and they just listened to the peace of the music to drown out the light night wind of Coolsville.

* * *

“Terra.” Reflecting against the yellow windows of the Ship was two hanging lights. “We’re scheduled to land in Dairy Queen.” The girl piped up.

 

 

“Physically IN Dairy Queen? That would be tragic. River Lily and I had our first date there…” Someone called from their chambers. “Mantis, when we land, go down and get me the Purpose.” 

 

“Yes Ego.” Mantis tied her short black hair up and cautiously waited for the door to open so she could finish her mission. Collecting the Purpose would make Ego in a much better mood, after all she had routinely checked the others across Xandar, Titan, Wakanda, Knowwhere, and other places, but Terra was last.

 

“Your highness.” Mantis bowed as the ship’s door released in front of an ice cream advertisement on Dairy Queen’s window.

 

“Dairy doesn’t have a Queen. Now go!” Ego yelled. He could see all of Mantis’s stupid moments.

 

The young alien chuckled as her antenna lit the way into the dark forest. She knew exactly how many steps it took before reaching each seed. And when she hit the seed, she was forced to talk to it. 

 

“This is the Terra seed. The Terra’s guard is Doo, the failed offspring who was not Celestial. On Terra, located in Coolsville, behind the Dairy Queen. Seed, this is just a routine check. Guard, are you present?” Mantis asked, her big black pupils enlarged because of how worried she was.

 

Nothing was there.

 

No Doo. (That was a funny guard name, to Mantis at least.)

 

No seed.

 

No Purpose.

 

“Why are you turning around, Mantis?!” Ego yelled.

 

“Terra has no Purpose, sir.” Mantis squeaked as she ran back up the Ship, the door closing behind her.

 

“Prepare the solution.” Ego was furious, but too tired to stand up. He rolled over, and went to bed, mumbling, “Oh River Lily. You’re really in for it this time.”

 

As Mantis grabbed a glass container out from a shelf, her antenna could transmit the thoughts in her master’s dream:

 

“She will see no stars soon.”

 

* * *

Velma kept the seed in a small pot of dirt on her desk as she stirred awake in her bed, gazing at it. The light was so captivating. The pulse kept moving back and forth, until Velma took her glasses off and could only see the blue light as a faint blur in the beginning of her sleep, eyelids heavy with the longing to dream. 

 

Tomorrow would be another day.

 

With Mystery Incorporated, Peter decided. 

 

12:27 AM.

 

He woke up from his bed, without the sounds of music in his ears, realizing his mother must of carried him back to his room. 

 


	3. Bennie And The Jets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by elton john, logic, and p!nk

Something about Tuesday morning struck Meredith. Maybe it was Brandy, playing on the radio. Or the purple sundress that turned up in her closet. Or the station being commercial free for an hour. Whatever Tuesday had in store so far, it made Meredith feel so content with herself. She danced around the kitchen in delight as she poured Peter a bowl of Freakies… (Peter called them space Lucky Charms.)

 

“Good mornin’ starlord! Happy second day!” She gracefully placed the bowl on the counter and placed the pitcher of milk beside it.

 

Peter grumbled down the stairs, surprised at the mood - this early in the morning. He wished his mom didn't bring him back to his own room last night. As he poured, he wondered:

_She’s not mad about yesterday?_

 

He felt the guilt dwindle away as he closed the milk and stuck his spoon into his breakfast. He took a mouthful, and listened to the song. He wasn’t quite familiar with it, but he could sense the positive vibes, because his mom was dancing around to every trumpet beat and saying something about "Brandyyyy". 

 

“Mom!” Peter yelled over the music. 

 

She would not stop dancing. And when the chorus came. She was there.

 

“You’re a fine girl! What a good wi-“ Meredith turned the music down.

 

“Mom. What’s up?” His voice was a little louder than usual as he held his hands open in a shrug, astounded by her behavior. She was already dressed and it was 6:15. That was unlike her. And in such a state of joy, she forgot about how her son ran away from home and went to Dairy Queen on the first day of school?

 

“Your daddy visited last night. He loves you very much.” She finally responded, catching her breath as the music faded out. She was ecstatic, as she held her hands over her heart. “Oh that spaceman…”

 

Peter looked down at his cereal and swirled his spoon around in the milk, upset. He missed the visit. 

 

_Not again._

 

“But sweetie, he saw you! In fact, your father carried you out of my room last night.” Meredith rushed over to her son’s side and wrapped her arms around him. “He loves you, so much. He’s coming home again. Next time, for good.”

 

“You make him sound like he’s some soldier who is always getting deployed.” Peter laughed at his own sad joke as he finished the rest of his breakfast. Most dads are home for good. Not David Hasselhoff, though. He must be booked.

 

* * *

On the second day of school, there are no more fun forms to be filled out or cards that need to be sent back. No more introductions or procedures. Just the distribution of textbooks, scribbling names on the inside covers, and attempting to do one page before realizing you’re really in third grade.

 

_What about the blonde girl from DQ? Yeah, she's five tables across from me and Shaggy. Could she ever stop smiling?_

 

Peter started to daydream before he realized that he was supposed to be doing something productive, copying Velma's lead.

 

Velma was ahead of schedule, completing not just the first page of the phonics textbook, but up until the tenth page. She would shut her book and then dig her chin into her hand, elbow keeping the book closed, to make sure nobody would copy off her answers.

 

Unfortunately the rest of the class would have to finish the first page- front and back, for homework. 

 

The rest of the school day was uneventful and bland, as the third grade at Coolsville Elementary were beyond blessed they got to board the bus home. On the bus, Fred told everyone to bring their phonics book, along with the seedling, to the Dairy Queen woods. 

 

“Like, Scooby is coming too!” Shaggy laughed. 

 

This time after getting off at Lee Street, Peter ran home and gave his mom a hug. 

 

“Mom, can I go to Dairy Queen with my friends?” He put his palms together in prayer as he also brought his Walkman into his bag. 

 

“Of course. Be home by sunset, starlord. I love you!” Meredith smiled, as Peter ran out of the house she started to wince in pain, head beginning to hurt.

* * *

 

As Peter walked down Lee Street and curved around to Dairy Queen, he saw the rest of the gang walk behind the woods too. Then, Peter remembered. A gang name. He had the perfect one. He ran down the hill and over a few logs, to right where the seedling was. Nobody. 

 

“Guys?” Peter called out.

 

“Rup Rere!” Scooby looked down at Peter, as he realized above him was a small treehouse. He was amazed, as he climbed up the ladder and saw all of his friends there. “When did this get here?”

 

“I assume yesterday after we left. It’s the perfect meeting spot.” Velma cradled the seedling in the pot before setting it down in the center.

 

“If a beetle gets on me, it’s over.” Daphne squirmed as Fred punched her playfully. "Fred, phonics is too hard." She dramatically put the back of her hand over her forehead. 

 

“I forgot to tell everyone, we went to the animal shelter and like, I adopted Scoob!” Shaggy scratched his dog as everyone cheered.

 

“Could this day get any better. I missed my dad.” Peter was bummed out as he brought his bad news.

 

“Hasselhoff?” Fred frowned.

 

“Yeah. Hasselhoff. I swear he was in my house last night. I just, barely missed him.” Peter shook his head to himself, biting his tongue. He was **so** close to meeting him.

 

“I'm sorry about your dad, Peter, but everyone, it's time to focus. I was doing some routine scans of this guy yesterday, and it turns out its not a guy at all! It’s a girl! The gene patterns…are identifiable even around the leaves. See those green and brown boarders? I took a sample of them and it turns out they’re celestial!” Velma smoothed the leaves.

 

“Celestial? So this plant is a unicorn.” Daphne sounded disappointed. Maybe she could keep it.

 

“Does Scooby know?” Fred pointed to the puppy who had kept quiet.

 

“Like, Scoob, what's this plant?” Shaggy showed Scooby what was in the pot.

 

“Ego’s girl.” Scooby stuck his tongue out, dissatisfied.

 

“Ego?” Peter remembered Scooby said the exact same thing yesterday.

 

“Maybe it’s a key word for this form of life inside the leaves… that blue light, it fluctuates, and yesterday when I scraped the leaves, it turns pink! See? It still has a pulse. So, it has to be a girl. Just a tiny one.” Velma said softly.

 

“This mystery sure does have an ego. I say we break up and look for clues. Shaggy, ask Scooby more questions. Daphne, go to the hospital and ask your mom about baby girls. Velma, do your thing. I will talk to the paper about this breaking news. And Peter. Did you figure out a name?” Fred declared, as Peter kept looking down at the pulsing pink light. What did it all mean? 

 

“Oh yeah, I did. We’re Mystery Incorparated. Mystery Inc for short.” He said with a cheeky grin. That took a very long time to think of.

 

Shaggy took a pencil he didn’t use on his homework and carved the kids names into the wall, Peter witnessing the Lee street bus stop gang transform into something more: Mystery Inc. A group of best friends. A... family. A real family that was all 8 and 9 year olds. 

 

** September 2nd, 1987:  **

** Shaggy **

** Fred **

** Peter **

** Velma **

** Daphne **

** And Scooby **

** MYSTERY INC **

 

 

Daphne had a near-boot death experience as she climbed down the ladder in her purple high boots. “Bye guys!” She called up before walking back home. Fred followed closely, while Velma departed with the plant shortly after, and Peter was the next to go down as he put his headphones on and listened to Bennie and the Jets. 

 

He couldn’t stop looking towards the pot Velma was holding, because of how captivating that pink light was, until Velma shut her door and Peter shut his on the way home. 

 

A celestial. The first ever Mystery Incorporated mystery was about a celestial. Whatever that was. He could see his mom, fast asleep in her own room, as Peter decided to get ready to go to sleep himself. Somehow, his Tuesday got a lot happier, thanks to his friends, and that plant.

* * *

 

Ego was relaxing in his chambers on the ship as Mantis looked at the empty flask of solution. It was a long, but normal route circling Terra, except there wasn't a Purpose seed on it for the Expansion which caused Ego to shift the blame for the seed's disappearance on Meredith Quill. Mantis could see what Ego was thinking about, what happened last night. The eight year old girl turned her antennas on and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember what the both of them accomplished last night.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meredith had left her Walkman on, playing Time After Time. She drifted off to sleep alongside Peter, not worrying about her music in her dreams. 

 

The Walkman was grabbed off the bed and shut off, the headphone jack ripped away, and put on her nightstand with a firm slam. Ego hated that music.

 

Two lights had illuminated on Peter, as Mantis pressed her hands around his aura. “Asleep.” She notified Ego.

 

“Lift Peter back to his room. Don’t make a sound.” Ego instructed in his child’s direction.

 

Mantis felt like her powers were not strong enough to lift him up, even though he was relatively the same size as her. She had to obey her master, so Mantis had to think of something. She calmed his body down into a deeper state of sleep before carrying his body back to his room, dimming her lights. She then shut the door of the Quill parents bedroom and stirred anxiously around the hallway hoping Peter didn't wake up for this, leaving Ego and the sleeping Meredith all alone. Ego entered the bed, and put a hand on Meredith’s back. Meredith woke up, instantly.

 

“Pet-“ Meredith opened her eyes as Ego leaned in for a kiss to shut her up.

 

Meredith kissed back slowly before breaking away from her husband, wide awake with relief.

 

“Where’s Peter?” She freaked out, as she turned around to check on the Walkman she must of put away. 

 

“I carried him back to his bed, River Lily.” Ego smirked as his hand cascaded down her cheek. “We have something to talk about… remember?” His hand drifted all the way down to Meredith’s stomach.

 

Meredith flinched, realizing what he was saying. “I…”

 

“I asked for another prince, not a princess. You know what this means?” Ego shook his head, disappointed. 

 

Meredith self consciously brimmed with tears in her eyes. She felt guilty that she was conceiving a baby girl. 

 

“She won’t have magic.” 

 

“That’s right. We both know Peter has that magic. So can this one. Here. If you drink this. Our second can be great, too.” Ego pulled a small flask out of his coat pocket and placed it in Meredith’s mouth for her. 

 

Meredith drank it quickly, and felt a lump in her throat that she couldn’t give birth to the gender he desired. Maybe she was starting to feel better. The drink tasted like regret and the most love she’d ever have towards a person, her spaceman. 

 

This next child wasn’t going to be delivered normally, because he persuaded Meredith to have a plant give birth for her, so she would feel no pain.

 

“I’m sorry. I love you, spaceman.” Meredith got lost in his eyes, her head hurting from all of the sudden affection.

 

“I love you, Meredith Quill. Until we meet again, my River Lily.” Ego whispered as he placed some blankets over her.

 

Mantis opened the bedroom door and walked past Ego to get to Meredith’s side, whispering “sleep” until Meredith was fast asleep again.

 

Ego nodded and walked out of the Quill household with Mantis by his side. The plan was in place.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mantis clenched her hand around the glass flask and looked at her reflection in it. Two antennae, wide, black eyes, a curious frown. Why was she feeling the sadness and unknown pain Meredith was? Why did Ego get mad at his wife because of their baby? Why can't Peter ever meet his dad? What happened to Scooby? Whatever these answers were, they weren't going to be solved overnight. Mantis had to remain strong and trust her master. They had to find the Purpose. 

 

"I hope you're watching the tree house, Mantis." Ego called out.

* * *

 

Meredith got to her feet and placed her hands over her temples, distraught. Her body ached. She had a gut feeling Peter was fast asleep, so she didn't want to wake him up and cause a scene about her health. She was a strong mother.

A strong, single mother.

 

She wasn't single though. She was loved. Meredith was loved by her spaceman. A mother without a husband always by her side, but always in her heart. That was more like it.

 

After such a good day, a sense of irritation casted over Meredith's systems, as she walked into the bathroom and kneeled in front of the toilet, weeping quietly.

 

She didn't feel like herself. 

 

So much for a great Tuesday.


	4. Mmmbop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by hanson

May 29th, 1988.

 

Scooby's dog house is Shaggy's bedroom. From playing video games to eating DQ cheeseburgers, Shaggy and Scooby were a package duo.

 

The Purpose was thriving in Velma's room, with a new type of soil.

 

There was a rumor going around that Fred and Daphne kissed.

 

Peter almost got beat up by some jocks a few weeks ago.

 

Meredith needed to call someone about her state of health.

 

Today. 

* * *

 

The first time. Peter invited Mary Jane to the tree house. 

 

He finally knew her name. Mary Jane. _2 cool names. Technically one._

 

“So, that’s it. You just press play, and it just… plays.” Peter’s eyes widened as he put the headphones around Mary Jane’s ears.

 

“Pick a song. Any song. What’s your favorite song?” He asked her kindly. He already knew what it was, because Daphne told him, so he was secretly playing Mary Jane’s Awesome Mix he made in his Walkman for her. 

 

“Uhh.. Girls Just Want To Have Fun?” Mary Jane giggled as she waited for her song to play.

 

“Do you hear it?” 

 

Mary Jane scrunched her nose, shaking her head with a loud, “No.” 

 

Peter pressed play. 

 

“What about now?”

 

Mary Jane’s smile was as bright as the sunset in front of them. “Yeah! Thanks, Peter!” Her long, blonde waves neatly bobbed against her shoulders. 

 

Peter watched Mary Jane experience her first Walkman mixtape. “No problem.” He said quietly with a soft smile.

 

The two kids were sitting at the entrance of the tree house, legs dangling down on the air below, with the Dairy Queen forest, some farmland, and the beautiful Missouri skyline in front of them.

 

Peter had so much to tell her. He wanted to explain everything to her. He could go on and on about songs and music. He wanted her to come over for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because his mom was the best cook. He thought about how he would break the news that David Hasselhoff was his father. He predicted that Mary Jane and Peter are a million times cuter than Fred and Daphne. He wished he had enough money to go to the store to get her a Walkman. He wanted her family to move to Lee Street. He hoped that she could be apart of Mystery Inc one day. He knew her Dairy Queen small vanilla cone order by heart. Would it be weird if he told her he liked her?

 

Once the song was over, Peter took the mixtape out of the Walkman and gave it to her. 

 

From: Peter

 *       *       *

Mary Jane’s Mix

 

“I have to get going, but we’ll talk soon okay? Thank you for this, again.” Mary Jane held up the mixtape and smiled as she crawled down the ladder in her blue overalls.

 

“Bye, Mary Jane.” Peter waved to her, before realizing how caught off guard he was. He couldn't just let his girl go like that. “Oh geez.”

 

He had to make the last move, so as soon as Mary Jane was halfway up the hill, in the spot where the seed was, Peter scrambled down the ladder and ran up behind her.

 

“Hey! Wait!” He said, catching his breath. 

 

Mary Jane turned around, blushing. “What?”

 

“I think you’re pretty awesome.” Peter said with a smile. 

 

Mary Jane and Peter laughed, all the way back to the Dairy Queen logo, where Mary Jane took a right and Peter took a left. 

 

Peter didn’t put his headphones in, keeping them around his neck instead, as his own music was playing You’re The One That I Want. He kicked a few rocks along the sidewalk with that same little grin on his face. He was pretty proud of himself. He looked down at his Walkman before up towards his house, with his grandparents car parked in his driveway.

 

* * *

His grandmother was sitting on the porch, as Peter walked in that direction.

 

“Hi honey, how are you?” 

 

Peter turned his Walkman off. He was confused as to why they were here. No birthdays, no parties, no events that the grandparents were scheduled to come to Coolsville for. 

 

“We’re here for a few weeks to watch over you, just in case your Mom doesn’t feel well.”

 

Peter had a puzzled look on his face.

 

“Why wouldn’t she feel well, grandma?”

 

He remembered all of her energy and happiness and warmth, for every past month. She wasn’t unhealthy, at least to Peter.

 

“She’s starting to get a little sick. There’s something inside her.” Grandma Quill explained with a gentle sigh. “Grandpa and her are talking to someone. I figured we could just stay out here. She loves you very much.” 

 

“She always tells me that. I’m her starlord.” He looked at his Walkman again, and memories of the two of them started to flood through him.

 

In the unusually quiet streets of Coolsville, a buzzing siren made it’s way down Lee Street. The front door opened, and Grandpa Quill emerged with a scared glare. The emergency services wheeled a stretcher out and went into the Quill house.

 

“That’s my house, Grandma! Where are they taking her?” He frantically turned to his mom’s mom. She should know. She’s a mom.

 

“To get better, Peter.” Grandpa Quill’s lip trembled with uncertainty. 

 

Two medical professionals whisked Meredith Quill out of the front door and into the back of the ambulance. Grandma Quill decided to ride in the ambulance while Grandpa Quill and Peter would stay home. 

 

When Peter saw his mom, she had her signature smile on, but her skin looked a little more frail and she lost that energy. She just sat in the stretcher and obeyed. Other than that, she looked fine. So what was wrong with her?

“Do you think Dad is going to come back and visit Mom, Grandpa?”

 

“I don’t know, Peter. I tell you what. Grandma will keep us updated. We can visit her soon. For now, get to bed. I love you.” He said in a solemn voice. 

 

Peter nodded and clutched his Walkman in his hands, deciding to put his headphones on and go to bed in the clothes he wore that same day. He was sad. Too sad to think. He worried for his mom. He missed her already.

 

* * *

“Raggy. Rambulance.” Scooby licked Shaggy’s cheek as he rapidly wagged his tail.

 

“Like, what Scoob?” Shaggy looked out his window and saw a mix of red and white lights.

 

“Who’s house is that, like, the Quills?” Shaggy was confused, as he saw Velma, Mr Dinkley, and Mrs. Dinkley standing in the street.

 

Fred and his older sister came outside, and Daphne was outside by herself in her bathrobe. Neighbors all across Lee Street tried to spot the unusual racket, and where the problem was coming from.

 

Shaggy ran outside and walked over to Velma, Scooby panting after him.

 

“Like, is everyone ok? Did you see anything, Velm?” 

 

Velma sniffled, her glasses fogging from the small tears she leaked.

 

“Something about Peter, I guess. It’s going to be okay, though.” Velma assured herself.

 

“Goodnight, MI.” Daphne sounded upset as she walked back in, realizing her mom would probably be a nurse on the case. Fred waved with a visibly sad look plastered to his features.

 

And slowly, but surely, Lee Street went back to normal.

 

The only problem is, they were down a resident. 

Transported to Coolsville Memorial Hospital, Meredith Quill stirred between asleep and awake throughout the ambulance ride. She had her Walkman near her at all times, and she also had a gift wrapped up in pretty paper she was holding onto.

 

Meredith wasn’t one to cry all that often, but all she could do was inhale deep breaths and exhale as her mom patted her side.

* * *

 

The ambulance flashed by Mary Jane’s bedroom window as she perked up. The flashy lights swirled by and cut another corner to go to the hospital.

 

Mary Jane recited her goodnight prayers, and then fell asleep with her mixtape by her side, thinking of how perfect her day with Peter was.

 

She really liked Peter. 

 

He was the awesomest. 

 

* * *

 

“Her vitals, everything is perfectly fine... until we look towards the insides.” Doctor Clarkesyn told the other staff members surrounding Meredith Quill, stabilized in a hospital bed. “But when you look closer, she’s not okay. Her life could end in an instant." He snapped his fingers abruptly, making a distinctive clicking sound.

 

“In the scan we had to remove her hair because of the chemo.” Doctor Blake spoke up. “If the scans are right, we are confident it’s something terminal.” Blake brought up to her colleagues. Her daughter Daphne had told her so much about the Quill family, they even lived on the same street. She didn’t want to believe this was Peter’s mom, but it was the truth.

 

“To me, this is a brain tumor. I don’t know how long she can last. If her inner organs continue to mess her blood flow and cell paths, we’re going to try life support. Thank you for staying with us, Mrs. Quill. You may want to arrange some family plans in the upcoming days. And Meredith, keep fighting.”

 

Doctor Clarkesyn explained throughly how it was too late to risk a whole removal of the cancerous tumor, and how her symptoms have the potential to spread to her whole body in an instant. He scratched his beard and walked out side by side with Doctor Blake.

 

“I’ve never seen anything like this.” 

 

Doctor Blake agreed. “We’re going to help her not see it anymore." She stuck a magnet to Meredith's chart on the notice board and placed her scans beside it as the doctors rushed into the Radiology department.

 

Meanwhile, Meredith looked in the direction of her mother, sighing. Bound to this hospital bed in some hospital gown with these strange medical terms. There were no Walkmans, or radios for that matter, in the hospital for patients. So she decided to lay down and think about her family for a little while longer.

 

"Darlin', you just can't give up without a fight." Mrs. Quill said softly towards Meredith, before walking out of her room to the payphone to call the Quill relatives about Meredith being in the hospital.

 


	5. Rockin In The Free World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by neil young

The morning for Peter was a mess. He put forth minimal effort in his appearance today, because he felt lonely. He appreciated his grandparents, but he truly missed his mom even though she was streets away. He preferred not to talk to anyone today or else he’d snap. But he did feel comforted by the mixtape he had in his Walkman, his mother’s favorites.

 

Coolsville Elementary School took great pride in doing hands-on activities. Today’s activity consisted of how many times a frog can leap. The frogs Miss Eriksine brought into the classroom weren’t the biggest in size, but the most ambitious in leaping distances. Peter was interested in science and he enjoyed this lab a lot, as Velma accurately measured, Peter was doing things just for fun. Velma didn’t yell at him to do the lab right, because she wanted Peter to be happy today after such a long and eventful night.

 

Daphne didn’t mind the gross, slimy frog because she knew she would be okay. She had a newfound appreciation Peter because ever since her mom told her about what happened last night, she didn’t want to make him feel bad.

 

Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby would always be there for Peter, through thick or thin, and he enjoyed the company of his boys. The boys would be there for Peter no matter what. 

 

Mary Jane. Mary Jane didn’t know what Peter was going through, but even if she did, she would love him for his strength and just how funny of a person he was. Mary Jane got highly distracted from the frog jumping lab and instead decided to pick up her frog and was seconds close to giving it a big kiss, until the frog leapt out of her hands and hopped across the classroom, down the halls towards the recess area. The third graders all ran after the frog, and with his headphones on, Peter joined in. He was determined to reunite Mary Jane and the frog. 

 

Until, everyone gasped and a few boys laughed. Patrick Wisely and his friends Jacoba and Daniel, took a stick and smushed the frog onto the pavement. 

 

Mary Jane bent down to scoop the frog up, and when she saw it was dead, she started to bawl. Daphne and Velma immediately hugged Mary Jane as Peter wanted to too, but he had other issues to deal with. 

 

He threw his Walkman onto the grass and stared at the three boys who were snickering about the frog they killed. Those immature fourth graders really did it this time.

 

“Hey. That frog did nothin’ wrong!” Peter yelled.

 

“Oooh, is that starboard? Scrub the deck.” Patrick teased, ripping the stick he smushed the frog with in half.

 

His two sidekicks crooned as some third graders liked the joke too. “Aye aye captain!”

 

“Shut up, Patrick! You didn’t have to kill her a frog!” Peter tensed up as he threw a random punch in the boy’s direction. A fight started to break out on the playground, as Patrick and Peter swung around, until Patrick got the last punch right into Peter’s eye in before the teachers came and broke the argument up.

 

Peter should of saw this coming. The embarrassment. The disadvantage because of his height and weight. The death of the frog that was Mary Jane’s. 

 

“It’s STAR LORD!” Peter screamed back as Patrick stuck his tongue out.

 

Peter got beat up by a fourth grader, black eye and all.

* * *

“Why did you do it.” Grandpa Quill shook his head, confused. “It was very brave of you, but very foolish Peter!” He cut the wheel to turn left onto Lee Street. 

 

Peter got dismissed from school because of the incident today. He felt fine, in fact he felt that weird mood between sad, lonely, and fuming, and the only remedy for that would be to blast his music on the highest volume and hope everything else ignores him.

 

Grandpa Quill could tell Peter was in quite the mood because even he could hear Rockin' In The Free World even without headphones.

 

“Peter. Listen to me.”

 

No response. He would try a different approach.

 

Peter gazed at his grandpa, calming down and adjusting the volume properly.

 

“Do you want to visit your mother tonight?” He asked his grandson.

 

“Yes.” Peter nodded his head, trying not to cry. This is what he’s been waiting for. The chance to see her again. And she would be beautiful and healthy and not sick and she would come home and dance around the kitchen with him. 

 

Grandpa Quill continued past Peter’s house and the two made their way over to the hospital, checking in at the visitors office.

 

“Say her name, Peter. Go on.” He encouraged him.

 

“Meredith Quill. What room is she in?” Peter asked in a few uneven breaths.

 

“She’s in Room 12 on your right.” The receptionist smiled, as the song on the Walkman changed to I’m Not In Love. 

 

Doctors walked in and out of the room as the hospital’s hours were winding down so there weren’t that many people, but just one peek into his mom’s room and a whole bunch of extended family appeared to block Peter’s vision.

 

And behind him, there was a tap on the shoulder. It was Daphne.

 

“Hey, Peter.” 

 

Peter took his headphones off. “Hi, Daphne. What are you doing here?”

 

“My mom is a doctor.. Doctor Blake. She’s working on your mom right now. I’m sorry about the sickness, I don’t enjoy being sick. Anyways, Fred called a Mystery Inc meeting. Mary Jane might be there. We’re going to talk about stuff at the tree house. We’ll update you, we want you to stay here. Oh yeah, what you did was very brave today.” Daphne smiled as she sat down in a kiddie sized chair next to the desk on that floor.

 

“She’s just sick right?” Peter questioned, sitting in a chair beside her.

 

“I think it’s cancer.” Daphne’s anxious gaze found the material on her boots to stare blankly at. “But what do I know about science.” Daphne remembered talking to Peter about how she was the gang's pretty face. 

 

Peter was astonished. His mom had cancer this whole time and didn’t even tell him?

 

“Are you sure this is my mom?” Peter quizzically responded.

 

“I’m sure, starlord.” Daphne said under her breath as she gave Peter a hug. 

 

Peter gulped, trying to hold back the emotions he felt. 

 

“Uh huh.” 

 

Daphne stood up and waved to Peter before walking back down the hallway and out to Stanley Park, a shortcut to the forest.

 

Peter slipped his headphones over his ears and sat in his chair, numb. He didn’t want to believe this. 

* * *

 

 

“Off you go yellow… hey. Purple one. Follow pink one. Good.” Yondu Udonta directed his three prized possessions: three children for Ego.

 

“Found yours on Zandar! You gonna thank me for my service or what, E?” Yondu called out on Ego’s colorful planet. The children roamed around, tapping the mystical bubbles, and playing cheerfully. Yondu studied the three, and then he got taken back in his tone. These were just kids. But at least they would be reunited with their siblings and their father, Ego.

 

Somehow, Ego floated out of the sky. A glistening gray beard, some noticeable wrinkles, but the most beautiful outfit of green and silver, even after all these years of trades.

 

“Mantis, take these 3.” Ego sounded disappointed as Mantis lifted her hands and drew a light from them, the children from Xandar walking over towards a cave area.

 

“Wha? Are they not good? They’re all children! Every single kid I brought, you throw in that cave! On this planet! They could have so much more!” Yondu was baffled. It was like his hard work of collecting and abducting for Ego was going to waste. Those kids must have pretty boring lives. 

 

“Just give me the money or I’m out.”

 

“Who said there was money involved?” Ego smirked. “None of my children you’re bringing back to me are celestial, Yondu. Try again on Terra. No money yet for you.”  

 

As Ego confronted Yondu about his failures, the finned man couldn’t help but look in the direction of Mantis and the cave, and when Mantis opened it, Yondu saw skeletons rattle out underneath the cave's stone walls as the three children willingly walked in and Mantis said, "Sleep." 

 

‘I’ll get the next one.” Yondu flipped his coat and walked away from the wide area, determined to get the money. 

 

But when he heard the kids cry in the cave, Yondu knew this next mission on Terra would be a true test for him:

 

What would he do with the kid there? Send it back to Ego’s planet and have it die slowly in a cave? What if the kid wasn’t celestial? 

 

Why was a Ravager like Yondu in this business anyway? And how many children did Ego have?

 

Yondu had a difficult time finding his purpose of his own as he punched in the coordinates of Coolsville, Missouri, the location of the next victim.

 

He whistled up a plan as the M ship flew toward Terra.

 

“Kraglin. I need some help.” 

 


	6. Africa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (playing in an empty shopping centre) by toto

The treehouse was strung with Christmas lights, Velma’s science gadgets, and anything else that would be useful to Mystery Inc. Shaggy added a mini fridge and a lot of leftovers. Fred made a dart board. A tree branch was growing into the treehouse where kids could sit if they wanted to, but they decided to sit on the planks of wood instead.

 

Mary Jane, Shaggy, Velma, Scooby, Fred, and Daphne gathered around the seedling in silence, until Daphne hugged her knees and sighed. 

 

“I… saw him.. My mom told me all about Mrs. Quill. She’s not going to get better.” Daphne shook her head to herself, trying not to cry.

 

“Daph.” Fred told his friend. “How can we help?”

 

Daphne wasn’t much of a crier. She was supposed to be crying tears of joy at the newest designer handbags her mom would get her at the Coolsville Mall, or crying when Fred wasn’t being the best friend who’s a boy to her, or because she skimmed her knee or something inferior like that. But the new kid on Lee Street with the headphones, his mom isn’t around here for much longer. So, Daphne cried. She moved her knees so she could sit on them and her face leaned over the seedling for a second as her tears dropped into the pink pulse of the plant.

 

“Raphne.. you did it.” Shaggy scratched Scooby as the mood shifted around the meeting spot.

 

Velma adjusted her glasses and looked as the leaves fell off of the plant to reveal the pink center.

 

“Like, what does this mean, Scoob?”

 

“Reter’s rather ris rad. Ego.” His paws shifted as he tried to explain. Scooby was in charge of guarding Ego’s second Earth born child. Peter was the first. In order to become Celestial, you had to have the right genes. Peter is celestial, somewhat. His baby sister, would not be considered Celestial at all because of her gender, since Ego’s perception is men are stronger than women, but women are easier to get. Scooby remembered overhearing, “When she grows up, she could have the potential to breed and have a greater Purpose for the Expansion.” Scooby cringed. 

 

“What?” Shaggy asked as the leaves disintegrated into the soil as the pink bubble stood still. 

 

“Is this some type of failed experiment now?” Fred asked. "There's no hope for this mystery. We're just kids. What do we know?" 

 

“Mrs. Quill cried.” Scooby remembered the exact moment in the forest when Ego revealed the gender of the expected baby. She cried tears of joy onto the small plant about to bloom, with the genes to another amazing gift of life wrapped around small, protective leaves trapped in a beautiful, pink pulse. “Raphne, you raved her. Peter can’t have a rittle rister, though. Re need to rell Peter about his rad.” 

 

Daphne blushed. She saved Peter’s unborn sister? A life was lost this early, but at least this life was not lost with the intention to breed. Mystery Inc protected her. 

 

“Peter’s dad? None of us even know him, Scooby.” Mary Jane said kindly.

 

“Remember he talked about him never visiting him? Or he was at a movie or something? His dad must be hiding something!” Fred concluded.

 

“But Peter’s mom, how could her or Peter care about him right now when she’s sick?” Daphne asked. 

 

“I don’t know. We just have to find Peter and explain to him everything.” Velma decided, as she set the plant against the wall. 

 

“Like, what is there to explain? Peter's dad is Hasselhoff.” Shaggy wondered.

 

“Peter’s Dad. Ego. He’s trying to do something.” Velma gravely huffed, being the first to climb down the ladder as the other kids of Mystery Inc followed. 10:15 at night with five 3rd graders and one dog trying to save their friend.

 

“Run.” Fred led the way, running out of the forest with the gang, down the sidewalk together, across the field. 

 

“Peter?!” The kids called across the darkened Coolsville. If they solved this first mystery, Mystery Inc could do so much more.

* * *

 

Peter sat alone in his chair, still stuck in the hospital hallway, fidgeting his fingers over the outside of his Walkman. His eyes shut for a moment as he felt the beat of the song. Actually, it was I’m Not In Love on repeat. He completely forgot about his family, his circumstances right now, everything. Until Grandpa Quill put his hands on his Walkman, and Peter snapped his eyes open.

 

“Come on Pete.” His grandpa tugged the soothing music away from his ears, collapsing his headphones. “Take these fool things off.” He handed the headphones back to him, and Peter tucked them away in his school backpack. 

 

Peter knew what he had to do. He slowly walked away from his chair and put the straps of his backpack on, walking past a darkened hospital bed into the divided half of his mother’s, filled with family and friends. All eyes were on the young boy as he walked into the room, and the sound without music made him sad. The beep of the machines. The smell in the air. The paging of an intercom. The small, adult-like details, were eerie to him. He couldn’t believe what he saw, walking around the hospital bed and to his mother’s left side. She was completely bald, with her barren head resting on her pillow, her right hand held by Grandma Quill, his mother’s wandering eyes meeting his. It looked like all the energy and happy tunes and Dairy Queen runs were drained out of her. She was his mom, but she didn’t look good at all. He hadn’t talked to her in days. 

 

Peter felt the hands guide him up to her side behind him, the firm hands of his Grandpa, giving him a few shoulder rubs as Peter smiled weakly.

 

“Why have you been fightin’ with the other boys again, baby?”

 

His mom’s voice was light as a feather, as Peter stood there in silence, not wanting to answer the question.

 

“Peter.”

 

He had to answer the question now.

 

“They killed a little frog who ain’t done nothin’.” Peter looked down at the sheets over his mother’s legs and her flow hospital gown, remembering Mary Jane’s frog. “Smushed it with a stick.”

 

“You’re so like your Daddy. You even look like him. And he was an angel, composed of pure light.” His mother’s eyes fluttered, as Peter had nothing to respond to what she said. She took a heavy breath until his Grandpa reminded her of the present, wrapped in rainbow paper, on the bed.

 

“Got you covered, Pete.” The package was placed into his backpack.

 

“You open it up when I’m gone, okay? Your grandpa is gonna take such good care of you. At least until your Daddy comes back to get you.” Meredith could picture it. Peter would love her parents, just like she did. And when her spaceman came back for Peter, they would have so much fun together.

 

Peter sniffled loudly, not knowing what to think about her words. When she’s… gone? 

 

“Take my hand.” Meredith extended her pale, white hand. Her emergency room bracelet was still on it, and her veins were visible. 

 

Peter sighed, denying the hand as he looked over his left shoulder and shut his eyes, trying not to cry. He shook his head no, and sniffled. His Grandpa encouraged him.

 

“Take my hand.” Meredith said again, tears in her blue eyes, gazing into Peter’s, before she set her hand back down onto the bedding and stood still.

 

The beeping noise lengthened as Peter turned his head from the left back to his mother, as his eyes widened and mouth opened, heavily breathing tears.

 

Meredith flatlined.

 

“Mom?” Peter cried out, heart pumping with adrenaline and disbelief. “No… no!”

 

He jumped onto the bed and tried to shake her lifeless body as Doctor Clarkseyn and Doctor Blake ran down the hall, hearing Peter’s loud screams.

 

Grandpa Quill picked his grandson up by the shoulders and carried him out of the hospital room as Peter kicked and screamed, crying. All he could say was no.

 

“Stay here, please.” Grandpa pleaded.

 

“No…” Peter said slowly, regretting everything like not holding her hand. Tears glazed around his eyes.

 

“Okay?” His grandpa’s dark shadow blended back in to the silhouettes of adults standing around the hospital bed, in mature mourning of their own.

 

Young Peter stood there, hands by his side, before bolting down the hallway and exiting the hospital. He needed air. He wanted to run home. He wanted to cry, he wanted to escape, running in the mist and fog of Coolsville before he fell onto the grass, slamming his knees down. 

 

“No.” He sobbed out, feet stuck to the old tiles of the hospital watching the people embrace each other. Why couldn't he have more time with her.

* * *

 

As the kids were running to the main entrance of Coolsville Memorial Hospital, they heard an immediate sound of a loud, roaring engine. 

 

“What was that?!” Daphne yelled over the harsh sound.

 

“Duck!” The children of Mystery Inc ducked down low as Velma turned the corner of the hospital building and saw a powerful beam of light. 

 

“Everybody inside!” Fred opened the door for them as the kids darted into the hospital.

* * *

 

“Right here sir.” Kraglin instructed as Yondu paused to see where the ship was hovering over now. 

 

“No kid here, Kraglin.” 

 

Yondu’s eyes scaled down the wooded area near Dairy Queen. Ego said there was supposed to be a kid around these parts. Hey, maybe he ran away. “Smart kid, actually.” 

 

“Aight boys! Listen up!” Yondu whistled so his grumbling Ravagers went quiet. 

 

“I want every search light on this town, until we find the real kid. Then, we’ll beam em up. Let’s move!” He wasn’t one to boss people around, but it was his work against Ego’s, so he needed to be fast about the next capture.

 

“One more kid guys, just listen to Yondu and find it!” Kraglin tried to hype up the Ravagers like Yondu did as he studied the map on the control panel.

 

“Sir! There’s one in a field!” Taserface pointed out a child sitting on his knees on some grass.

 

“Let’s go!” The Ravagers cheered as Yondu turned his m-ship to be visible, and he directly poured the big white beam of light onto the boy. He opened up the bottom door, as he watched the kid hold his arms up and cry. 

 

“Mom!”

* * *

 

Peter felt a tugging sensation and a powerful, ramping noise combine to create a white light that he was immediately sucked into. The light started to swirl around his body with shades of rainbow helping the pull, as all Peter could do was cry and lift his arms up in the air to stop the brightness, yelling out the word mom.

 

As the light lifted Peter onto the ship, it flew back up into the sky and slowed down whilst it got to the Galaxy, as Peter, backpack and all, was on the floor, sobbing. The Ravagers crowded around the kid, clamoring with excitement. Peter sniffled, as Yondu stepped away from the control panel and his boots were the only sound as they clicked towards Peter’s direction.

 

“What… were you thinkin.” Yondu wanted to scold Peter about his parents, and ask him about his father, until Kraglin stepped in front of him. 

 

“Sir, don’t. He doesn't know.” Kraglin looked Yondu in the eye as he grit his gold teeth. “This is really Ego’s kind of Celestial?”

 

“My-my mom just died.” Peter stammered, closing his eyes again, crying hysterically, talking to the group of adults. “Where am I? Why am I here? Am I dead too?”

 

“Are _YOU_ dead?” Yondu was enraged as he pushed Kraglin aside and kicked the boy, the Ravagers laughing. “What kind of answer was that, boy? I saved your life. This ain’t heaven.”

 

“His name is Peter Quill.” Kraglin looked off the screen of data he managed to pull up. 

 

“Well then, boy, we got a lot of work to do.” Yondu knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Ego, and if Ego ever knew Yondu took Peter for himself. Yondu decided not to bring Peter back to Ego’s Planet, instead, he would raise Peter right.

 

Peter stuck his face along the grated surface of the floor as he was kicked around by the guy in blue and the aliens. He didn’t know what was going on as he started to cry again, silently.

 

“Toughen up! You got a duty here, n it’s to help us Ravagers out kid!”

 

Peter stifled in another breath, as he tilted his head up to see the roof of the room he was in. It was pure black, with little dots of stars and belts of meteor and planets dotting his line of sight.

 

"Where am I?" Peter's eyes welled again, staring towards the guy who looked like a human to him.

 

"You're one of us now." Kraglin knelt down beside him as he took the backpack off of the boy and set it into his hands. "Yondu will help you. We're here for you, Peter."

 

"Who?" Peter rubbed his eyes, thinking of how silly Yondu's name was.

 

 **" _Who?!?"_** Yondu kicked the control panel and turned around again, tempted to punch Peter. **"ME."**

Kraglin hunched his shoulders when he heard Yondu's piercing voice. "Around here, its tough love. For everyone. You just need to sleep, ok? We'll explain more in the morning. Don't let him bother you." Kraglin shared his advice on how to deal with Yondu to the young child.

 

Peter shook his head in agreement and fell back asleep onto the cold floor, the Ravagers dispersing away from the sleeping child as they all went back to their jobs.

 

Kraglin walked back over to Yondu, facing the control panel, his fin glowing red.

 

"Sir, it's a possibility he's celestial." Kraglin said softly, holding his two hands together, staring into space with Yondu.

 

Yondu twitched his lip, about to say something, before looking over his shoulder.

 

"That's... my boy." He said softly, realizing what he got himself into. Protecting, and exploiting, the most important child in the galaxy.. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter. it was so important to me to get right. also, happy Mother's Day. so much love for MI. twitter @cosmicreas


	7. She's Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by hall and oates

 

1988.

 

It was like the world broke. That humming noise had finally stopped, and a gust of wind trailed through the hospital.

 

There was nobody at the check in desk.

 

“Just go down this hall!” Daphne pointed as everyone started to yell again.

 

“Peter!” Shaggy called out.

 

Mary Jane looked in between rooms as Scooby sniffed and Velma rummaged through desk papers. 

 

Daphne paused, holding onto Fred’s hand as her mother, Doctor Blake, was guarding the door.

 

“Mom!” Daphne was relieved as she hugged around her white coat. “Mom, we have to talk to Peter.”

 

Doctor Blake bent down to her daughter’s level as Mystery Inc regrouped. It looked like the older woman had been crying. “Slow down, Daphne. What?” She laughed hoarsely. 

 

“We have to save Peter’s family.” 

 

“Oh sweetie… Peter’s mom passed away. Mrs. Quill.”

 

The group of kids faces sunk. Doctor Blake immediately frowned.

 

“Like, what?” Shaggy whispered.

 

Fred hugged Daphne as Velma was in denial. Mary Jane started to cry loudly. It was past everyones bedtimes.

 

“Where is Peter?” Daphne asked her mother.

 

“I don’t really know. Last I checked, he went outside for some fresh air. I have to get back to the guy at the funeral home. You should go back to Lee Street, kids. Peter will be around.” Doctor Blake fixed Daphne’s hair before the kids nodded and in the hallway of the hospital they embraced for a group hug. Even Scooby’s face drooped, upset and confused on how to cope with a loss.

 

“We still saved Peter’s sister.” Velma reminded everyone before they broke away.

 

“Let’s get out there and find him!” Fred said as he ran back down the hospital exit and out into the field, as the other members of Mystery Inc followed. They called out Peter’s name and walked around all of the possible places he could of been, but Peter wasn’t anywhere. 

 

For the rest of third grade, Peter didn’t stand at the Lee Street bus stop or sit in the classroom or at lunch or get his small chocolate cone or walk around with his headphones in or get into fights with anyone else. Because Peter didn’t exist anymore.

* * *

 

2000.

 

All the whispers of the Quill family still lingered around Coolsville, occasionally the Mystery Inc kids visited Grandpa and Grandma Quill who now lived in the house permanently, and even they didn’t know about what happened to their beloved grandson after their daughter died. 

 

As the kids grew up, they didn’t go to the treehouse or Dairy Queen. They occasionally solved mysteries and were recognized for how much of an impact they left on Coolsville, and even some days they forgot about their third grade friend Peter.

 

When Fred got his license, his father gave him a van. Together, Mystery Inc painted and designed the interior to become their Mystery Machine van, home of many meetings, mysteries, joy rides, and memories. 

 

The first mixtape they ever listened to was Mary Jane’s. She forgot it was from Peter.

 

Daphne and Fred were officially a couple. Shaggy and Scooby were the typical pranksters, and Velma was the studious one. She even repurposed Peter’s sister into a lava lamp, out of the pink bubble that was left.

 

Junior year Mystery Inc was in their prime. The Van cruised down the Missouri freeway.

 

“We can’t solve mysteries forever.” Mary Jane said, out of the blue, that summer after junior year, her golden waves of hair caught by the sunny breeze. The car went silent.

 

“Like, Mary Jane, of course we can. Right here.” Shaggy pointed to his right nipple, which was actually supposed to be his heart, and then Scooby put his paw on Shaggy’s actual heart.

 

“Shhhh.” Mary Jane smiled into a quick kiss with Shaggy, before pulling away happily as Girls Just Wanna Have Fun blared through the speakers of the van.

* * *

“He’s looking awfully tasty today. I’ll eat you, boy!” More laughter.

 

Peter had his headphones in, so he couldn’t hear the bizarre threat as he worked on grabbing a piece of metal away from Taserface, who held it over Peter’s short height. 

 

“What did you say, Blue’s Clues?” What else could Peter say to Yondu. He had that determination to prove them all wrong today. He laughed at his own joke, half because it was said at the appropriate time, half that he was most likely to get his ass beat after this stupid mission to get the piece of metal out of big ugly guy’s hand.

 

“You won’t be nothing boy if you take this slow to bring me what I want!” Yondu cackled.

 

Peter clenched his fists and with one last distinctive thought blaring to the sound of Everybody Wants To Rule The World, he grabbed the piece of metal away from Taserface and kicked him in the stomach at the same time. 

 

The scrawny teen took a breath. From that day on, things would be different. Real different around the galaxy. He could finally go on missions.

* * *

 

2002.

 

Some of the gang members went to college. Velma got a full ride to Harvard, an internship with NASA, and a support group. Not to mention, her job back at Coolsville was a museum mystery curator thanks to her acquaintance, Patrick Wisely. Mary Jane drifted away from Mystery Inc and Shaggy, because she decided to study abroad in Europe. Fred was drafting his own book since he was an English major in college, and Daphne was soul searching, more or less through karate, after the toughest breakup with Fred at med school. Shaggy and Scooby got full control over the Mystery Machine, and often had beach picnics with the craziest sandwiches possible. Shaggy also utilized bongs an awful lot, and his job was a “full time smoker” nowadays.

 

The gang was farther apart in miles and interest for fighting people in costumes who enjoyed committing crimes. That last mystery with the monsters was when they all promised they would keep in touch, but they rarely did. Velma was the one who had all the contact information, just in case. 

 

It was on break the museum where Velma had a thought. She thumbed through her address book, coming across every number she kept, ever since she was little. She even saw Peter’s number. Which made her adjust her glasses and slink down her top bunkbed ladder to find Patrick, reading a book, at the bottom.

 

“Remember that kid you beat up in third grade?” Velma said in a nasally tone.

 

“I beat lots of kids up in third grade.” Patrick smirked and fixed his glasses.

 

“You’re such a dork! But I’m serious. When you killed his frog?”

 

“Oh yeah, then his mom died. Headphone guy.” That was all Patrick could remember.

 

“I haven’t seen him since third. grade. Patrick, what if he’s like… I don’t know…?” Velma shrugged. “Peter could of had so many different outcomes.”

 

“Starboard.” Patrick laughed again. “He could of died. Yeah, he probably went missing. I haven’t seen his face on any milk cartons anywhere. Say, is Mystery Inc on the case?” 

 

“Star lord. That was his mother’s nickname for him.” Velma thought about her childhood memories. Mystery Inc had no chance in bringing Peter back. “And his dad was David Hasselhoff. But his real name is Ego.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Patrick rolled his eyes playfully. “Maybe he was your imaginary friend. Star Lord: Where are they now.”

 

“Ok Patrick.” Velma threw her address book on her desk and walked back out into the exhibit dedicated to Mystery Inc, looking up at the endless glass case surrounding the Luna Ghost. 

 

Was Peter really imaginary?

 

* * *

December 23, 2002. 3:45 am. What college does. 

 

Saint Louis University. Fred Jones was slumped over at a library table, by the dull lamp beside him. He let out a sigh and shut his notebook, mumbling out loud.

 

“You know when your life sucks, but it doesn’t just suck, it sucks?”

 

He couldn’t get his first draft out. His fraternity buddies told him he should just go back to the house. But he stayed. And his solo cup tipped over.

 

“What are you doing?” A quiet voice could be heard from above. Fred jumped out of his seat and gazed up the higher bookshelf, to find a girl sitting with her ankles crossed. “Come up here.” She extended her hand towards him.

 

Fred raised an eyebrow. “What? I was just writing my book… the many faces of Fred…” He said as he willingly took her hand. He noticed she had black tattoos dotted around her arm. “Do I know you?” He climbed up the shelf until he sat down at the top beside her.

 

“Doesn’t matter.” The girl said. Her hair was purely black and her eyes looked like moonlight. She started to tug on his ascot and lanyard, pulling him in closer until Fred stumbled in to kiss her. His immediate thoughts went to Daphne. He hadn’t seen her in a while, but he missed her for some weird reason. But this girl was something else. Making out in the library with him. Until she jumped down from the shelf and walked toward the desk, picking up the first pages of his novel. 

 

“I’m Maddie.” She said sweetly before walking out of the library with some of his pages. When she went behind some shelves and disappeared out of sight, Fred realized what she took.

 

The pages about his early life. His family, his friends, his school years, Mystery Inc, and…

 

Peter.

 

“See, father? I hardly ever miss my target.” It sounded like Maddie’s voice.

 

“Very good, Proxima Midnight.” 

 

Saturn’s moon was glowing brightly as the young teen handed over the piece of paper she found to her father’s large, purple hand.

 

“Peter Quill is a-“

 

Thanos read the paper to the people around him: his three daughters, Gamora, Nebula, and Proxima, and three sons: Ebony, Cull, and Corvus. 

 

“He is gone?” Nebula’s cold, robotic voice questioned.

 

“He wasn’t delivered to me.” A figure stepped into Saturn’s light as he took his hood off. 

 

“So glad you could make it, Ego. I’m surprised your planet is still in tact.” Thanos said sarcastically, sitting on his throne.

 

“Thank you for including me. Your family is more than capable of finding my boy and bringing him home.” Ego had a sense of pity in his voice, distraught by the loss.

 

Gamora crossed her arms, not impressed with the act from the man with the name Ego. 

 

“We will not rest until we find Peter.”

 

Fred woke up from off the floor and grabbed his book, walking back to the frat house across campus alone. Everything felt surreal. 

 

* * *

Space. 2018.

 

“Spoiler alert: they rested!” Peter said as he steered the Milano happily, surprised at Gamora’s story. Maybe it was made up. 

 

“I can’t believe it. Your dad just like walked onto Saturn. And when my sister said she stole that from some boy, I was in shock.” Gamora twirled the ends of her purple hair around and watched Peter fly with a smile. Her sisters. She missed Nebula, a lot.

 

“I don’t know why people have so much information about me I can’t even remember. Like what street I lived on?” He paused. Maybe the story was made up. But it also kind of scared him, he still has a target on his back? He should of changed his name to Star Lord legally when he had the chance.

 

“Sesame Street.” Mantis blurted out, as Drax produced a humungous chuckle.

 

“I guess it was Lee Street.” Peter scratched his head.

 

“This isn’t memory lane.. this is meteor belt city. Why are you flying again?” Rocket squawked from the back of the ship.

 

“Groot, can you go tell the peanut gallery to be quiet. And turn on Volume 3?” Peter asked his teenage tree for a favor. 

 

“I am Groot.”

 

“He actually agreed.” Gamora nodded to herself, impressed with his behavior.

 

Groot walked back to the radio as instructed as his branches turned up the first song.

 

“Now Quill from back here it says there’s a distress signal. Should we accept?” Rocket yelled in Peter’s direction.

 

“Bring it on.” As Rocket opened up the ship, Peter saw the coordinates from the signal and the system preferences were specialized on the fastest route to get there.

 

The Rubberband Man immediately started to play, filling the Milano with more nostalgia.

 

“Good choice Groot!” Peter opened his mouth in awe, starting to sing.

 

“I am Groot.” The tree hopped back into his chair and played on his video game.

 

The Guardians of the Galaxy sailed through space without a care in the word, maybe everyone except for Drax who was sleeping. 

 

In that moment, they were happy, and all together as they approached a stream of rainbow light and a built figure wanting to be let in through the ships door.

 

They wouldn’t get one of those moments again for a while. 

 

 


	8. Circle Backwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Mark Provart

Wakanda was quiet. 

 

Thor was stunned, staring down at the ground and his ax on it. 

 

“I should of stopped him.” He said with a hostile grumble, before digging his foot into the dirt, taking responsibility. 

 

Rocket sat against a log, holding out his clawed hand, expecting Groot to take it. “So this is it, eh? I must be next.”

 

Steve gazed in Vision’s direction, seeing him lie motionless on the floor. Then he turned to Bucky, remembering he was just a pile of ashes.

 

M’Baku consoled Okoye who was silently weeping. “What do we do?” 

 

Natasha started to catch her breath before running behind Steve. “What.” She whispered, trying to process the disaster.

 

Rhodey was too cautious to even take a lumbering step to turn his suit around to look at Bruce. 

 

Bruce shook his head to himself, wanting to tear his suit apart.

 

“Look around. Our army is lost. Our people are too. Our friends. Our comrades. Wakanda is weakened.” 

 

“Weakened. Better than dust.” M’Baku rubbed her back. “I know how to deal with this. There is hope. Wakanda will not grow weak. I can assure you that. If we work together.”

 

“We already tried that, look at us. We’re fractured in half.” Thor muttered as he extended his hand towards Steve, still on the ground in disbelief.

 

Rocket slipped Groot’s ashes into his pocket as Rhodey walked out of his suit and to pick up Vision’s body. He could remember Wanda sacrificing herself for Vision and then, dust. 

 

“Why not us?” Rhodey wondered, as he grabbed Vision’s turned off body in one fluid motion. “Why not us.”

 

“Why not us to turn to dust, or to save the day?” Steve got up with Thor’s help as the group turned to face M’Baku, as he turned his transmitter back on.

 

“Queen.” He spoke into it. The other side of the transmission was directly to Shuri’s lab.

* * *

The glass window in her palace lab was shattered, when that violent creature attacked her. 

 

Shuri didn’t know what it was, but her surroundings smelt of smoke, and being alone. She could hear someone paging her, as she coughed and wiped some debris off of herself. “What?” She asked, stunned. 

 

“I am no Queen.”

 

“Thanos has snapped the universe in half. T’Challa died, so you are now Queen of Wakanda.” M’Baku spoke into his wrist, explaining.

 

Shuri put her hand over her face, processing the news. Even the people guarding her died. Maybe it wasn’t death, maybe it was turning to dust.

 

“But that’s not the point, Shuri.” Okoye said calmly. “We need you to send out a distress signal to wherever possible.” 

 

“You have everything you need.” M’Baku finished, before closing out with a, “Wakanda forever.”

 

Shuri nodded as she rose from her feet to check her computer screen, realizing the casualties. She couldn’t locate Thanos or the children of Thanos, but she did sense high levels of vibranium on another planet. Titan.

* * *

Titan. 

 

The copper sun broke against the twisted buildings in ruin.

 

Tony Stark sat down on the ground next to the ashes of Peter Parker, holding his head between his folded hands, eyes shut.

 

“He snapped.” Nebula stood there with her hand on her hip, trying to find an explanation for all the disappearances. Her big, black eyes saw Tony coping.

 

Nebula wished she knew how to heal. She would piece together this healing like her father created her physical body: part by part. 

 

“What does that mean? I should of been the one to go.. Thanos was so close to.” Tony huffed.

 

“Clearly he didn’t if you’re still here.” Nebula conveyed with an uninterested glare. She strut over to where Mantis, Drax, and Peter once stood, seeing the three piles of ash respectively. 

 

“How do we move on from this?” Tony shook his head to himself, worried about his friends. He tried his AI, but Wakanda’s signal was lost. “Nobody should of went, nobody should of came here, I should of had the kid stay home.“

 

“Mr. Stark.” A voice announced calmly. “Nebula.”

 

“No, Jesus. I can’t handle any more of this today.” When Tony said Jesus, he thought of Star Lord. Oh, Peter.

 

“I am Queen Shuri of Wakanda. I am currently looking at the state of the planet you are on, Titan, and I see there are only two of you. Do you remember who else was with you? Did they-“

 

“Turn to dust. Yes.” Nebula cut the transmission’s voice short.

 

“Well, there was Mantis, Drax, Doctor Strange, Star Lord and…. Spid- Peter Parker.” Tony gulped, feeling a weight over his shoulders with a lump in his throat, saying the names of the ashes. One of them, he took responsibility for. Peter. “He was only a kid.”

 

“I need you to stay calm.” Shuri even questioned her choice of words as she spoke to Tony Stark himself through her transmitter. “If possible, could you fly to Wakanda?”

 

“Why would I want to fly to Wakanda when half of the people I was with just perished.” Tony started to get frustrated.

 

“Nebula, could you do me a favor and keep track of everyones ashes for me?” Shuri asked, feeling her face get hot when Tony asked about why he’s needed on Wakanda.

 

“Mr. Stark, the same exact thing just happened on Wakanda. Why isn’t T’Challa talking to you? Because the King is dead. My brother. He is ash too. Just please, Mr. Stark.” Shuri saw the survivors on Wakanda walk through her lab door as she was still on the call, she put her finger up to her lips telling them to be silent.

 

“I would of answered my phone if you called.” Steve piped up, standing beside Shuri hoping that Tony would meet him.

 

“I’m surprised you didn’t get killed.” Tony rolled his eyes, recognizing that voice. He looked down at his own damaged chest, before hobbling toward the Milano with Nebula. “Be there in 10.”

 

Steve’s corners of his mouth curled into a small smile as Tony cut his side of the transmission off.

 

Shuri turned the screen around and faced the Avengers. They didn’t look good. They looked defeated, scraped, bruised, but okay. And when she saw Vision, her heart sunk.

 

“This is all a lot to take in right now, wow. As Queen I will fix this. It’s what T’Challa would of wanted. Rest. Help is coming shortly.”

 

As Tony pried the door open of the Milano, Nebula felt back at home again. The music from the radio turned on, it was a song called Circle Backwards. Tony put the ship into fly and punched in the coordinates to Wakanda, as Nebula slid into the passengers seat. The ride was as silent as the universe currently was, like time had stopped and nothing was going on. But as soon as the Milano touched down into Wakanda’s hemisphere, bodies of robots and animals and people were littered around the savannah. Weapons and blood and fire were everywhere. There was destruction. Nebula shivered.

 

Tony saw an opportunity to land on the palace’s emergency vehicle pad, so he did. He somehow got the ship door to open again as him and Mantis plainly walked out.

 

Rocket noticed the Milano outside as he perked up.

 

“Hey, Thor! That’s my ship!” He tugged Thor’s bicep.

 

“I see that, rabbit.” Thor said as he noticed the two walking out. “They have arrived.”

 

Nebula and Tony walked over the broken glass door and into the laboratory, to greet Shuri and the others. Rhodey was relieved Tony was there, as the room buzzed with conversation. Rocket could recognize Nebula’s blue head anywhere, as he said: “Nebula! Nebula!” Until he stopped and saw her holding a can of ashes.

 

Rocket felt sick to his stomach. “Oh god…” His friends. Where were they? He lost his Guardians.

 

With the help of Natasha and Steve, Shuri had found a few more signal points to try on Terra.

 

“Missouri. That’s where Quill is from.” Tony pointed to the spot on the map as Rocket walked over, hearing his friends name.

 

“It’s worth a shot. Let the signal go, Shuri.” Tony taught her as Shuri placed the message onto the screen, asking for help in the kingdom of Missouri.

 

* * *

 

Coolsville.

Velma sat at the desk of the museum, staring blankly into the computer screen waiting until she could clock out. She was bored, but did admire all the ghosts Mystery Inc found and the several dinosaur fossils and exotic coins around the museum. 

 

And then, her computer got a urgent notification. 

 

“Patrick!” Velma clicked on the mouse as the message expanded.

 

Patrick ran into the room and read the screen.

 

“THE Tony Stark and a Queen of Wakanda? Need our help to fight a bad guy? Because everyone is now invisible?” Patrick knew about Stark Industries, but not about any queens from Wakanda, or invisible people. 

 

“Not you, genius. Mystery Inc.” Velma excitedly pulled her phone out of her pocket. Another mystery to solve. 

 

“Hold on. How are you going to get to the magical land of Wakanda? And, what if you turn invisible? You could handle this by yourself, I don’t know why you need your supporting roles to help.” Patrick asked about the logistics.

 

“We can talk about that once the reunion happens.” 

 

“Mystery Incorpirated is assembling again?” Patrick shrugged.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Scooby and Shaggy were at Newport Beach.

 

Daphne was in an anatomy lab.

 

Fred was sleeping in. 

 

Mary Jane’s phone didn’t work.

 

Peter’s didn’t either.

 

The message from Velma got sent, delivered, and opened. 

 

The gang was back in. Coolsville Criminology Museum. Tomorrow morning.

 

“I need to go.” Velma dashed over down the museum stairs and recorded a response to the signal for Wakanda.

 

“Wakanda? Greetings. My name is Velma and I am currently getting everything ready to go. Of course Mystery Inc would like to help you. Bye.” Velma was all over the place as she drove back to the Dairy Queen woods and ran to the overgrown tree house, trying to look for her past inventions, like her teleporter. 

* * *

Tony listened to Velma’s response as Shuri smiled contently, hoping Velma could bring help.

 

“I like this chick already.”

 

The other Avengers tried to laugh at what Tony said. Next, Shuri had to bring all of the ashes together and separate them on her table. 

 

“This is a lot of people.” She frowned, typing in the names of each victim into the computer. “Some of them didn’t die from disintegrating, though.”

* * *

Gamora woke up, in a haze. Her head was rushing with confusion. Every particle of matter around her was orange. She was conscious, as she lifted her right hand to grasp the air. She tried to remember what she couldn't. The balance. Peter. Singing. Muscles. Bubbles. The Soul Stone. Stabbing. 

 

She was the sacrifice.

 

A mischievous voice surrounded her. “Would you like some help?”

 


	9. Clocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by coldplay

“Help? _You’re_  the one who is bleeding. I don’t need help.” Gamora tastefully responded as she looked behind her at the voice she heard, a man sitting on the ground, clothed in a royal suit of armor a few feet away from her. Blood was dripping down his mouth, as he wiped it off with his sleeve. He smiled. It hurt to smile, because he truly was in pain, but he studied her for a while. 

 

“Do you need help?” Gamora’s tone softened, realizing he was in this unusual place with her and it was worth being kind.

 

“No. Doing just fine. Frankly, I’d rather be dead. But this is okay too.” He adjusted his position on the ground, as his jet black hair messily scattered over his shoulders. Gamora noticed the marks on his neck.

 

“Dead?” Gamora mouthed, when the man told her his perspective.

 

“I deserve it. I was childish. You know Thanos would of loved to kill me. My family wouldn’t even hear about my death because they are probably glorifying something else like oh, another one of my brother’s accomplishments. Maybe my mom would care. Have you ever tried one of Frigga’s meals- Oh wait. She’s not my actual mom. And Thor isn’t my actual family. I was adopted. Bifrost. Giant. Falling for thirty minutes.” He covered his hand over his mouth, trying not to gush at how much blood was going to come out again if he giggled. How off topic was he going with this?

 

Gamora rolled her eyes until she heard the word falling. She felt like she remembered her fall to this place. Her eyes grew wider with curiosity, engaged in his unorganized life.

 

“Right, back to the moral of the story. Thanos. He almost did. Kill me. I set up the perfect Hulk distraction. That guy is _an-gry!_ I tried to pull one of the old loyalty tricks out of the bag with the whole I love you Thanos, but I’m going to try to neck you with my knife, and yeah…I don’t remember the rest. I know my brother was upset. My brother is Thor. Hey, I told him before this even happened, the sun would shine on us again. I think that’s sun.” He pointed to the swelling blue and orange sky, almost listening to himself talk as Gamora slouched, confused.

 

“So who are you, exactly? Your relation to my Dad was?”

 

“Oh geez, I didn’t think he was into green girls-“ His face turned pink as he cupped his hand to stop the blood, embarrassed. Was he really talking to his brother’s daughter?

 

Gamora pursed her lips into a serious line. 

 

“Nevermind.” Turns out this girl who looked like the Hulk was not related to the Hulk in any way. She must of been related to Thanos.

 

“I’m Gamora. I was taken by Thanos at a young age. Away from my people. Away from my mother. I was trained as an assassin. I was always competing with my sister, too. Nebula.” Gamora was glad somewhere in her mind she could recognize Nebula, as her head pounded from awareness of the situation. “My father. He persuaded me into believing how nice of a person he was. He talked abut balance, and promise, but it was all lies. I left a lot of people behind to get here. I am the sacrifice. For the Soul Stone.” She said slowly, eyes looking up at the endless blend of discolor.

 

The other was sensitive towards Gamora’s words, recognizing how similar of a background they’ve both had it. 

 

“Space Stone.”

 

Gamora nodded.

 

“I’m Loki. God. Prince.”

 

“I’ll just call you Loki.” Gamora decided, watching the deserted sky and terrain merge together between a vibrant orange and glowing blue, morphing back into a still sense of matter around the two outsiders.

 

“How the hell did I get here.”

 

“I don’t want to talk about how we got here anymore. I saw your brother.” Gamora said, realizing when she fixed her jacket she had no feeling, except the thickness of her own green blood anywhere she touched. This was a strange place. On the thought of Loki's brother, Thor. He was quite muscular. He had an eye patch. He brought this presence into the Milano. Then he left. And Gamora never saw him again. 

 

“I don’t want to talk about my brother anymore. I mean I love him, I really do, but it’s one of those subjects that just, makes me dwell on my behavior. I'm adopted.” Loki was bored. Downright bored. This wasn’t a punishment, or a reward, this was life without anything else added to it. The emotions weren’t getting to him today. Could he even show emotions in this artificial state?

 

“Love.” Gamora repeated, feeling her heart sink when she remembered how much she loved Peter. If only Peter shot her and it was real so she could die happy with herself. She wanted to give him another kiss. She wanted more time to love him. She felt the void in her heart, the wide span of emotions, the trauma from her father, everything. She felt her eyelids flutter shut, feeling a wavelength of peace within herself as she curled up on the plain environment. She just didn't have love for Peter, she loved her sister Nebula. Like Loki, she was adopted too in relation to her sisters. Her sister was always pushing her to be better. She missed the people she loved. 

 

Before parting ways to sleep since there was nothing else to do, Gamora swore she saw her mother’s brown robe, green eyes and colorful braids, as she asked like her younger self would politely to the imaginary woman:

 

“Could you tell me a story?”

 

Loki watched Gamora fall asleep as he opened his eyes a little wider, looking to either side of him before realizing she was speaking to him. He was baffled Gamora wanted a story. “A story? Well, there are lots. Have you ever been to New York? It’s quite lovely. In fact, when I had the Tesseract before, I almost ruled all of New York. Then my brother and his friends were like, why should Loki rule? He should be banished.” Loki shrugged, seeing how fatigued she was as his voice softened.

 

“Or. This is a classic. I could tell you the snake story. Picture this: Eight year old Loki and Thor. I transformed into a snake for Thor and I scared him. After that, he got a nice stab from me.”

 

Loki questioned if he could ever stop talking. He felt the responsibility to stay awake so he could make sure Gamora was okay. He didn’t have the Tesseract on him, the Stone was handed over, and he was choked for trying to do the right thing. Gamora had mentioned something about a sacrifice. What did this all mean? 

 

“I would love to know where the rest of the universe is right now.” Loki called out across the rolling masses of orange and blue matter, shutting his eyes momentarily.

* * *

 

Velma sat on the marble steps of the Coolsville Criminology museum, her teleporter device in hand as she played with the wires on the outside, typing into the smaller keyboard on the side Wakanda.

 

“Are you sure you don’t have to pack a suitcase or anything?” Patrick asked her. 

 

“It’s not like one of _those_ mysteries. I don’t know. I have everything I need right here.” Velma looked at her baggy orange sweater and matching knee socks before adjusting her glasses again and smiling. 

 

Coolsville’s downtown district was without a sound that night, until Shaggy and Scooby arrived with the Mystery Machine and two bags of Subway.

 

“Like, we’re back in the Ville, Scoob!” Shaggy scratched his good boy before running up the stairs with him in Velma’s direction.

 

“Hi Relma!” Scooby hopped over to her. 

 

“Hi boys.” Velma said quietly. “Thanks for coming.” At least she had 2 of the originals.

 

“Jenkins, I’m okay.” The small, pink limo had pulled up and a girl with sunglasses walked out, waving goodbye to her personal butler. Her purple dress was much shorter and her hair was a little longer, tonight it was in a loose side braid.

 

“Velma, this isn’t 2002!” Daphne laughed at Velma's classic outfit before taking her boots off to dash up the stairs and reunite with her friends. “Oh Scooby I brought some snacks for you! I’m in for this mystery.” She told the gang. “Med school, it’s a lot, but it’s nothing like Mystery Inc.”

 

Last but not least, Fred Jones got out of his Lyft casually, still rocking the same outfit since third grade. “Coolsville isn’t so sucky after all.” The blonde boy said she shut the door. Daphne immediately smiled at him, before turning her back. She didn’t want to get back into her relationship. She actually wanted to solve this mystery.

 

“So, what’s happening?” 

 

“Mr. Tony Stark from Stark Industries, and Queen Shuri from Wakanda got into the museum’s database yesterday and transmit an urgent distress signal. This mystery has to do with someone named Thanos, and his conquest.”

 

“Thanos is like, the old guy who lives next to DQ?” Shaggy asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

 

“You mean, Iron Man? Tony Stark?”  Fred’s eyes lit up. “You’re kidding me! He’s all the way in New York, or California! Oh my wow this should be good. I can’t believe he wants our help!” Fred paced around. Tony was like an idol to him. 

 

“Thanos isn’t from Coolsville, Shaggy. He’s from space. In fact, nobody knows how to track him now because he snapped his fingers, and disappearances started to occur.  Let’s see for ourselves how we can help.” Velma held her teleporter up.

 

“Your teleporter? It did get us to New York, but what can this thing do now?” Daphne remembered eighth grade with the teleporter.

 

“Hold on.” Velma smiled at Patrick before typing in the names of everyone in Mystery Inc.

 

One by one, they disappeared from the outside of the museum and slipped into the teleporter’s code that processed directly to the lab in Wakanda. 

* * *

“They are here.” Shuri pointed at the five dots picked up on the map, as the gang fell into the laboratory. 

 

A lot of commotion, mostly Scooby barking, and Daphne whining, landed them in a pig pile as Velma held onto her teleporter device, her glasses flying off of her face.

 

“My glasses!” If she lost her glasses, there was no point anymore.

 

A man helped Fred stand up. Fred was very close to giving Tony Stark a full on hug, but instead manned up and introduced himself, “Fred Jones. Mystery Inc.”

 

“Tony Stark. Everywhere.” He said abruptly, before Daphne stood on her feet and fixed the heel of her boot as she saw Fred’s back and made eye contact with Tony, fixing her flaming red hair which came out of her braid in the teleporting process.

 

“Holy wow. Is that a future Romanov sighting?” Tony exhaled loudly towards the girl in purple.

 

Fred snickered as all eyes were on Daphne, Daphne staring in the other woman's direction, oblivious to the comparison.

 

Natasha put her hands on her hips as she scanned the other girl. She laughed at his comment, because she knew she had no competition. Maybe if this was a few years ago and her hair was still red. But nobody could live up to her own name. “I don't see it."

 

Velma tossed her teleport aside as she threw her palms down onto the laboratory floor, as Shuri realized this and picked Velma’s glasses up for her, handing them back. 

 

“Why thank you.” Velma smiled. “Velma Dinkley.” 

 

“I’m Shuri.” She said with a grin back toward the girl who had gotten the signal.

 

Velma curtsied for the Queen. “No curtsies here. Everyone is a Queen.” Shuri wanted to be treated the same as every other person on Wakanda. 

 

Scooby sniffed out Rocket immediately as Shaggy sat on the floor and continued to eat his sandwich, not impressed with the people around him because they were all new to him. 

 

Rocket groaned. “I thought there already was a Guardians of the Galaxy!” He then thought of how that joke made him feel. A little upset.

 

Shaggy had a mouthful of sub when he realized a muscular man picked up his bag. “You brought shawarma!” He exclaimed, very thrilled that he could dine like the did the time he defeated his brother with the original Avengers. The thought of Loki and his death clouded his mind momentarily before he snatched the food bag.

 

“Like, if that means Subway, yes!” Shaggy shook his hands in excitement, happy to know that the guy with the muscles liked food as much as he did. “You’re buff!”

 

Thor cheered as he bit into the extremely long sandwich. 

 

Steve did want to welcome the help that arrived, but then looked at the separated piles of ash. How could this happen? Bucky. Bucky was one of those piles. 

 

“I will let you take your time. Do you need anything from us? If so, please let me know.” Shuri explained her lab to Velma. “We have several Doctors on site too, like Dr. Banner.” Shuri pointed to the curly haired man in the corner, as Bruce gave the girl a wave.

 

Velma was overwhelmed, but almost had everything she needed to move on. “Could everyone bring me the evidence they have? Equipment, preferably? On that table?” Velma asked nicely. 

 

Tony brought over a piece of metal that looked tarnished and freshly out of a wound. Thor brought the ax he made with Groot’s arm, with a purple substance on it. The ashes were considered important evidence. Most people handed over their guns or whatever touched the ground or Thanos.

 

“There’s also Vision’s body over there.” Rhodey said to Velma, pointing over to the dead gray body.

 

“While I run my tests, is there any way I could get more information on Thanos and his… stones?” Velma spoke up. “Actually, Fred. Can you conduct interviews with Thor, Captain America, and Mr. Stark? I hope I got everyone’s name right. Sorry I’m still learning. Daphne. Can you look around the palace and help the injured people recover? Shaggy and Scooby, can you look more into the other planets around here and try to get a definite location for Thanos?” Velma giving orders was something entirely new to her. Normally it was Fred. This was her case.

 

“I’m going to tell you right now, Thanos and his schemes aren’t easy, but it’s going to be worth it. Thanks for all your help, chick.” Tony patted her on the back as Velma got to work.

 

Fred took his interview subjects to the other room as Daphne walked down the palace halls to find anyone hurt. Shaggy, Rocket, Rhodey, and Scooby looked into the map of the universe more.

 

At her workspace, Velma started to observe the ax. “Thor’s ax.” She said to herself, looking at the freshly mined silver, and the purple substance on that. “The handle is made from a branch of a flora colossus, that’s my guess. The purple, I’m going to test it.” Velma decided as she wiped the purple goo off the ax and stuck it into a jar before running it under the scanner.

 

She then took the ashes of someone named Scarlet Witch and traced her particles. Why was everyone upset over a witch turning to ashes? In Coolsville, that was the goal. In Wakanda, the people were in mourning. Back to the ashes.

 

She extracted the same material from both, surprised at how similar everything was.

 

“Jinkies.” 

 

Velma double checked her calculations and put aside the purple, the pile of ashes from Scarlet Witch, and the ax.

 

“Wanda Maximoff.” Velma typed into Shuri’s computer, hoping for results.

* * *

 

Fred kicked his feet up in the palace conference room, holding on to a complimentary pen and pad of paper from Wakanda.

 

“So, boys. How was your day?”

 

Steve shook his head towards the kid before scratching his beard, upset that his feet were up on the table.

 

“First, Mr. Stark. Second, look, kid. We asked you to help. Now please take this seriously. Half of the universe is gone, all because of this one Mad Titan has all the power imaginable we have to stop somehow. We asked for the best of the best. You could be one of them. Now man up.” Tony crossed his arms and shot Fred a look of maturity. 

 

Fred took his feet up from off the table and nodded. He was interested in knowing what happened before, and how the heroes got involved.

 

"Yes Mr. Stark. Is it possible to start from the beginning?"

 

“It starts with the Infinity Stones.” Steve took his shield off, explaining the origin of the Space Stone to Fred.

 

Thor had his input about the Reality Stone.

 

Tony was silent until he explained what happened when Thanos got all of the stones today.

 

Fred dropped his pen in the silence of the room.

 

He understood how serious this mission really was to the Avengers.

 


	10. Open Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Imogen Heap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! a /kinda/ long time, no update. just ap exams this week so it's been a little hectic. anyways! i hope you love MI as much as i do. ALSO. if you are confused /or never saw Scooby Doo the first live action movie, the Spooky Island one/ the head thing might sound a little weird, but it's not. ok carry on. this is a really good chapter. all the love! -@cosmicreas

As Gamora was still unconsciously drifted back into her state of sleep, Loki felt tired too, but most of all he felt determined to stay awake just in case there was another sign of life to turn to. Instead, he looked at the perimeter of the planet. 

 

Beyond the orange and blue realm, orbs of light started to trickle in to the starless stratosphere above. These orbs morphed into floating heads of people who once were alive, suspended in space. The heads were a little bit smaller than average, and carried a small trail of mist behind them, with the distinct facial features of each person. Wisps of fragile hair and elements of skin were faintly seen in a transparent blue color.

 

“I don’t feel so good…” Peter Parker was the first soul alive as he cried, except the soul didn’t have tears.

 

“Vision?” Wanda Maximoff’s eyes were black instead of red, since the blue soul did not carry any other colors. 

 

“I am Groot.” Teenage Groot morphed into his own soul head.

 

“What happened?” Two antenna. A girl’s soul head. Mantis. 

 

“Holy shit.” Peter Quill blinked. 

 

“Be quiet, all of you.” T’Challa’s soul head glowed.

 

“Quill! Hahaha you look funny!” Drax was here too.

 

“Where’s my arm?” Bucky frowned.

 

“We’re dead. We’re so dead. I’m calling it! Aunt May and Mr. Stark-“ Peter’s voice cracked as he wailed.

 

“We aren’t dead. We have been spared. Living souls.” Mantis turned her antenna on to check out the surroundings. “We are all freely floating in space together. We would have normal bodies, except they are from where we perished. Our full selves are in the ashes. I know some of us were on Titan. How did the rest of you get here?” Mantis thought about other locations. 

 

“Wakanda.” T’Challa felt his spirits of calmness dwindle when he realized he wasn’t king anymore if he was gone. He cared about his people. His family. Shuri.

 

“Thanos said he had to destroy half of the universe. We are the half in space!” Drax yelled. 

 

“Yeah but Gamora said he had to snap to do that.” Quill didn’t want to believe Drax’s nonsense. The memory he had of Gamora wouldn’t go away. The knowledge of her death wouldn’t go away either. The only person important to him was Gamora. She’s gone now, because of Thanos.

 

“He snapped.” Bucky’s head looked in the direction of the two other heads talking about Thanos. Bucky remembered on Wakanda, the pain he felt when his gauntlet snapped.

 

“That was the outcome.” Stephen Strange’s deep voice soothed the other’s as his soul finally processed into the cosmos. The people around him were thankful he arrived.

 

“So Thanos was on Walkman?” Quill squinted toward the long haired man, confused on how the others got here. 

 

“I am Groot!” Groot contributed to the heated conversation with a friendly reminder.

 

“I knew it was Wakanda, Groot.” Quill rolled his eyes. All of the Guardians had never been to Wakanda before, but Quill said it was high on the bucket list for the future. 

 

“Whatever happened, it can be reversed right? I don’t want to be here!” Peter shuddered. “Am I really blue?”

“All souls are. Thanos kept our protoplasms.” Mantis found out, searching the outer aura-like edges of her own head. “If he snaps, he could find our soul and bring it anywhere he wants to, he can insert us any place, any time, any person, any body.” 

 

“We’re all a bunch of Caspers. Except Drax. He’s not very friendly.” Quill explained to everyone about the American colloquialism, as Drax gasped.

 

“I’m the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, not Casper the Friendly Ghost!” Peter stuck his floating tongue out at Star Lord before giggling. Peter’s head drifted downwards, looking at the infinite galaxy below them. Space was vast and filled with unknown regions. From where Thanos snapped all the souls to, there was only one noticeable thing in sight: a smaller planet. “Is that a neighborhood down there?”

“A blue and orange cloud doesn’t look very helpful.” Strange judged the planet by its appearance. 

 

“Hey. This girl hasn’t talked yet.” Quill floated over to the quiet girl’s side.

 

Strange studied Quill before staring directly at him. If Peter hurt Wanda. He swore.  Wanda broke the silence first.

 

“I’m Wanda.” She introduced herself with an unsteady, Russian breath, still thinking about her powers against Thanos’s, and how she lost Vision. She was working extremely hard with Doctor Strange on how to train her powers perfectly. Now that she was just a floating head and Thanos defeated her, did she lose her beloved powers?

 

“Peter Quill. Star Lord.” Quill said back to the girl, curiously.

 

“Wanda. You were trying to lose your accent?” Strange asked.

 

“I don’t know what happened.” Wanda muttered, shutting her eyes. Natasha really helped her work on getting rid of her Russian one. For some reason, her old accent one slipped. “Thanos probably reset me.”

 

“Reset? You’re not a robot, you’re a girl.” Even Quill could comfort Wanda. 

 

“Does anyone else feel different? I know we’re all souls, outer images of our inner selves trapped in a head, but, this could be something.” Strange inferred. 

 

“I feel like, I have an arm. It’s invisible though.” Bucky told Strange.

 

“My spidey senses keep tingling.” Peter whispered, confused.

 

“I am Groot.” Groot’s voice was deeper as his face transformed into an older version of himself.

 

“Oh no.” Bucky said, as his head disappeared.

 

“I say we get away from here. It’s too high up and we’re in the same spot we were disposed into once Thanos thought he got to us. Follow my lead.” Strange told the group as the heads floated down to the orange and blue planet, seeing the mix of colors swirl around into two distinctive halves.

 

“What about the Winter Soldier?” T’Challa asked.

 

“Thanos summoned him.” Mantis lowered her antenna. 

* * *

 

The purple giant set his infinity gauntlet off of his hand, placing it in his cabin. He then snapped again, wondering what this motion would bring. It brought the floating soul of Bucky Barnes at his leisure.

 

“What the hell.” Bucky grunted before Thanos caught his soul from moving around, pinching his ghost like head between his thumb and forefinger. 

 

“I have the perfect place to put you.” Thanos gloated as Bucky snarled.

 

"They were right. You really are mad. This is the end, Thanos.”

 

“It’s the beginning of a new world. See the sun? It’s rising.” Thanos smirked as he walked the prized possession into his cornfield, throwing Bucky’s head onto the head of a blank scarecrow. “You can scare people away here.” 

 

As soon as he threw Bucky’s head onto the scarecrow’s head, Bucky got feeling in his body back. Except, his body was filled with straw now. Even his arm. He was confused, but tied to the pole.

 

Thanos trailed back towards his cabin, leaving Bucky in the field, before he snapped again and the sky turned a violent green, switching to a dark red. 

 

A circular ship cascaded down onto the cornfield, as a man coughed before swaggering off by himself, walking past Bucky the scarecrow.

 

“You look dashing.” The man winked at Bucky before flipping his scarf and cape around. 

 

“Beautiful setup here, Thanos. Congrats.” He walked up the cabin steps and knocked on the door. 

 

“Oh, I brought you something. It’s in my ship, I have to go get her.” 

* * *

 

When Velma finished testing all of the ash piles to trace their identities further, she noticed one pile of ashes turned invisible.

 

“Bucky Barnes?” Velma fixed her glasses before hearing the beep from the scans about her comparison from earlier. “Scooby, can you get everyone back in here?” 

 

Fred stopped the interview as he handed Velma the notes back. Tony walked over to Velma’s side as he looked at the progress. Daphne had helped most Avengers out, and the ones who were looking at the map had no luck finding Thanos and his exact location.

 

“So I’ve been running tests and getting frequencies along with gamma sequencing a few things, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the people you’ve lost aren’t dead. They are simply drained of energy. The energy has left their bodies and transformed into individual souls. Thanos has used half of this energy to overpower himself. Something intriguing I found was on Thor’s ax. I know the flora colossus and his stonemason I assume made this ax. I collected the purple material off of the ax, and it is the blood of Thanos, which contains high levels of randomonium, found when we worked on the monsters unleashed around Coolsville years ago. I also am very aware you cannot see the gauntlet print on the fine silver, but if you look closely, the gauntlet is composed of a melted down combination of a strong material. For my Mystery Inc friends, this is the same material that the Daemon Ritus was made out of.” Velma pointed to the ax and then the sketch on the screen of the gauntlet and the souls.

 

“What is the Daemon Ritus?” Bruce tilted his chin down in question.

 

“It’s an ancient magical relic that observes the victim’s vital energy. Thanos can access this energy through a person’s mind any time, but not their whole body unless he kills them or ultimately sacrifices them.” Velma tried to remember the incident on Spooky Island as she fixed her glasses.

 

“There are some problems with the souls flying freely though. The souls of the people, Wanda, Groot, Doctor, your friends… they can be put in any body that is willing to host them, or unwilling. Thanos can control this, or they can freely enter the body which forces the person who was in the body orginaly to be turned into a soul. It’s like an entire game of tag. Since they have fallen victim to Thanos, Thanos has the capabilities of making them turn into possessed demons, different versions of their usual selves, supporters of him. There are lots of different ways to go about this.” Velma sighed, organizing the files around her.

 

“So how can we stop it?” Thor spoke up, looking at her display of evidence.

 

“What’s more important, saving the people you love or stopping Thanos?” Velma asked as she bit her lip.

 

“Both. Quickly.” Tony responded flatly as Steve walked around the table. 

 

“Where’s Bucky?” 

 

“That was my next point. Bucky, I think he was the first to get his soul summoned by Thanos. So he isn’t a soul anymore, he’s probably his normal self. I just wish there was a way to find where they are now, because the location is so different and nameless in space.” Velma hit her palm of her hand over her forehead, far from satisfied.

 

“Velm.” Fred closed in on the table as well, Daphne stepping to his side as Scooby sniffed in that particular direction.

 

“Like, there’s one pile without a name on it.” Shaggy looked towards Shuri.

 

“I know that pile. Let me just double check.” Shuri typed each letter into the database, before glancing back and leaving the name on the screen as Velma walked near her friends, then took a glance to read the name out loud.

 

“Peter Quill.”

 

“Oh my god.” Fred reached out to touch the pile.

 

“Don’t touch it!” Velma said, crying out. 

 

The teens started to look distraught. Daphne held her hand over her mouth as Scooby and Shaggy embraced.

 

“You’re crying over Quill? You don’t see us crying over everyone.” Rocket taunted.

 

“Like, we knew him when we were kids.” Shaggy said in a low voice as the Avengers consoled Mystery Inc, hearing the full story and the first mystery they ever solved together in the lab.

* * *

Loki yawned, realizing the blood had stopped for the moment. He leaned his head against the invisible wall of the planet as he still was fascinated with Gamora, who was asleep. Was this the afterlife? If he slept, would that mean he’s dead? The sky. The boarders on the planet. It was like he was trapped. 

 

He then saw the blue orbs rush toward the ceiling of the planet. There were so many of them. Looking a little closer, he could even recognize some of their faces. No. 

 

_Stop making this up Loki and go to bed. She doesn’t need you to watch over her anymore._

 

Doctor Strange witnessed this eye contact from above as the souls tried to get into the blue and orange planet, but were stopped immediately from entering. 

 

“Loki. Loki’s down there.” Strange told everyone. 

 

“Who the hell is Loki?” Quill butted his head against the glass like barrier again, as he saw a patch of colored mist travel by and he swore Gamora was on the ground. “Gamora?”

 

“Quill.” T’Challa looked at his comrade, sighing. “We can’t get down there.”

 

The atmospheric pressure toward the mysterious planet made the climate stifling, as even through his soul Quill was determined to get back to Gamora.

 

“We can’t just leave her down there! What is she going to do with him? Who is he!” Quill raised his voice, worried about the outcome of this situation. He wanted to break down the barrier and make sure she was okay.

 

“Loki. God of Mischief. Prince of Asgard.” Wanda concentrated, remembering what Strange had told her about Loki’s powers lessons ago. He did bad deeds, but he redeemed himself. Strange compared her to him often, to encourage Wanda to be more than Loki.

 

When Wanda said his name, Loki looked up at the orbs again, thinking.

 

“Thanos got the Soul Stone by sacrificing someone he loved, leading Gamora to the Soul World to die. Somehow, when Loki died, he must of given the Space Stone up. What powers are left from the Soul and Space Stones combined into one barren world filled with only the people who sacrificed the stone. We can’t get in.” Mantis thought logically about everything, her antenna even trying to break the barrier. “It’s sealed shut.”

 

“I should be down there.” Strange added, upset.

 

“I can try. For Vision.” 

 

“You’d die. There is no probable outcome of living, Wanda. You know that.” Strange looked at her, confused.

 

“I know I can. I’ll tell them about us.” Wanda moved her head in through the wall confidently, as she looked at everyone on the other side, soaring down between Loki and Gamora.

* * *

“Loki.” Wanda mouthed softly, finally meeting the god she heard so much about.

 

“What are you doing here, Wanda?” The light from her glowing head reflected against his eyes as he saw a storm of orange and blue brewing in the distance.

 

“You gave him the Space Stone?” Wanda didn’t believe he would do it.

 

“I had to.” Loki laughed again as blood started to spill out and Wanda tensed up, trying to help him from his injury still. “It backfired. And I see you have some of the Mind Stone left in you.” Loki reached for Wanda’s forehead as he tapped it lightly, where if she was Vision, that’s where her Mind Stone would be.

 

Wanda and Loki were gifted enough to connect the thoughts and backstories between themselves to communicate, using their powers.

 

“I’m not Vision.” Wanda responded, upset. She couldn’t feel his touch.

 

“You could stay with us. This is like the underworld.” He tried to laugh again. 

 

“I can’t. Loki, there’s others, so many of them: souls. Thanos wiped half of the universe out. We need your help, but we also want to help you out of here.” Wanda turned her head to find Gamora still on the ground.

 

“She’s important. I know she misses her boyfriend up there. Also, her family has issues. Me? I’d love to help. You, me, Doctor Strange, trio.” Loki waved towards the outside of the planet where the souls were trying to get in. “It’s a deal.”

 

Wanda nodded as she used her silvery eyes to throw Gamora into a dream state that made her wake up peacefully, this scenario focused on reuniting with Peter while explaining the current land Gamora was on.

 

“Thanos didn’t realize how much power he just gave us.” Gamora smiled slightly before getting on her feet. Loki joined her, and Wanda’s head bobbled around the planet.

* * *

 

“Hey, she’s awake! She’s smiling. That’s my girl.” Quill bragged from above, trying to get excited as Groot, Drax, and Mantis attempted to look down at Gamora too.

 

Strange shook his head in approval towards what Wanda just formed between them.

 

“We’re getting help.” T’Challa was thankful.

 

“I feel a little better about this now.” Peter’s head leaned against the barrier, thinking of how he got here. "Quite the field trip today."


	11. Bleeding Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Leona Lewis

After realizing she was at fault for forgetting about labelling the last pile of ashes, Velma stormed out of the lab, flustered.

 

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Tony bit his tongue after hearing the story of how Quill grew up with them. Quill was a very important part of the plan. He was a human, through and through. He was funny, and quick to think. Tony realized he could of been nicer to him, and when he needed someone like Quill to continue the fight with Thanos, he lost him too. Tony also remembered the story about the seedling and Dairy Queen, told by Shaggy. They were only 8. So young. Like… Peter Parker. God. He wished he could do things so differently, blinking away the tears of shock out of his eyes from the rapid memories.

 

“Yeah. We all thought he disappeared.” Fred looked down at the ashes again, not wanting to believe that was Peter’s body, split into dust particles. “I can’t believe he actually dissapered.”

 

Daphne walked out of the room to look for Velma.

 

“Like, Peter sat with me at lunch when no one else did.” Shaggy scratched Scooby gently. “Peter like, set me and Scooby up to be best pals.”

 

“I’m just afraid. What if we can’t get any of them back? Loki.” Thor folded his arms, saying his brother’s name for the first time in a while.

 

Everyone turned in Thor’s direction, confused. Loki, he must of been around somewhere.

 

“Loki? Where is he?” Natasha was surprised Loki did not make an appearance throughout today.

 

“Thanos killed him.”

 

The laboratory sat in silence, before small conversation between Rocket and Nebula and M’Baku and Okoye began to develop, not knowing how to respond to Loki’s death.

 

“Look, we all have someone who doesn’t exist anymore. This is what has to bring us together. To find them. While Velma is out, I think we should pull up all of the possible maps we can find to see if the locations are visible. We also need to keep in mind randomonium, as well as the Daemon Ritus.” Steve riled his Avengers up, explaining the plan he thought of. 

 

“Ok, Captain.” Fred gave a salute, impressed with the planning. Tony rolled his eyes and called Rhodey over to talk about the Daemon Ritus while the projections of space were shown on screens as Avengers zoomed in to every possible coordinate.

* * *

Velma sat against the walls of the palace down a hallway across from the lab, crying hysterically. She hyperventilated, still in denial about Peter Quill’s stupid pile of ashes. One of her childhood friends. Is involved with this. He’s possibly hurt. Dead. Invisible. All she could do was cry, fogging her glasses up. It was like the night the ambulance took Mrs. Quill away, but worse.

 

Velma wasn’t alone.

 

Beside Velma sat Bruce Banner, trying to calm her down. 

 

“Velma, it’s going to be fine.” The man wasn’t quite sure how to put it: he didn’t see Velma as a savior genius, he saw her as a teenage girl who was coping with a loss and her responsibility. The data was in her hands. 

 

“Doctor Banner, I can’t do this all by myself. Everyone is depending on me because I said yes to the distress signal. My best friend is gone. We searched so much for him, when I was in third grade the summer he disappeared. And now he’s gone for good. So are your friends. All of these different clues, they don’t make sense.” Velma held on to her sweater tightly, mad at herself. 

 

“Velma.” Daphne frowned, sitting down on the floor on her other friend’s side, taking off her green ascot and letting Velma use it as a tissue. Daphne had already cried enough, but it was visible how much pressure Velma was putting on herself. Daphne put an arm around her as she continued to vent.

 

“We all care about our friends. I care about mine so much. They’ve helped me when I’m down. When I make mistakes or errors, especially in science or math or research or creating a virtual form of life. And listen to this. When I get really angry, I turn big and green and scary. They call me the Hulk.” Bruce pretended to clench his fist, an attempt to make Velma laugh or allow her to rebuttal a scientific remark. “It’s hard to turn into the Hulk by myself sometimes, I need something that gets me going. Like, a really evil prince. Or, a big fight. Or, robots. Or, someone I love. Then, when I visualize my success, I transform that into anger because of that purpose. I’m not telling you to get angry, I’m telling you to care about your friend, Peter, so much, you will figure this out for him. When you guys, and us combine, I promise the end result will be worth it.” Bruce stuck his pinky out.

 

Velma sniffled, agreeing as she tucked her short hazel hair behind her ears before fixing her glasses and then laughing subtly. “A pinky promise?”

 

“I never break mine.” He said as Daphne laughed too, Velma hooking her pinky around his, starting to calm down. 

* * *

Rhodey pointed to Knowhere on the map. “The planet isn’t going to scream out to us and say, hey, here’s where the souls are now. They have to be somewhere secretive. Maybe the Collector has the souls in his Museum!”

 

Shuri shook her head, zooming in on the red glow around the words Knowhere. “It looks like Thanos already beat us to Knowhere. The Collector had to give up the Reality Stone, so now Knowhere could be morphed into something deceiving.” 

 

“Quill, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis went to Knowhere. Do ya think they are over there still?” Rocket asked.

 

“Rocket, they’re gone.” Nebula reminded him.

 

“Your highness, I think I can help.” Rocket hopped onto the table, gritting his teeth. “It’s clear to see that Thanos missed a spot. He’s giving us the answers. The Reality Stone didn’t touch my Pocket Dimension Storage Vital. Why? It’s a straight shot to them.” Rocket looked at the ashes.

 

“They have to be somewhere, Over The Hedge.” Tony disagreed with Rocket. “So what? There are no pocket worlds in a conquest like this, Thanos wants all or nothing.”

 

“Hey Tony, can you help me with something?” Bruce and Velma walked back into the laboratory as Velma held her head high and walked over back to her screen. Tony walked out of the lab and back down the hall with Bruce.

 

Velma looked at the map before seeing Knowhere and the red around it, along with the Pocket Dimension Storage Vital labelled as a piece of debris in space. 

 

“So what do you know about the Reality Stone?” Velma leaned against the desk where the screen was, smiling.

 

“She did not.” Thor was appalled that Velma had this knowledge. 

 

“She did.” Daphne rolled her eyes as she walked next to Shuri and Velma.

 

“If Rocket left his Storage Vital there, and it’s accessible, then we have to get it. After we find the Vital, I can check if there’s any traces of the gauntlet, randomonium, Daemon Ritus. They aren’t going to be in plain sight. They were sacrificed. Thanos wants to lead us on this chase Luckily, the powers of the Stones can still be recognizable, even in a pocket world. We have to be patient enough to look.” Velma concluded.

 

“Scooby, kids. Come in here.” Tony whistled, as the gang walked out of the lab.

 

Shuri looked at Thor.

 

“She _is_ impressive.” Thor watched Velma leave. How could she process logic as quickly as him? She must of been a goddess in disguise. 

* * *

After talking with Loki and Gamora, Wanda floated her head up to the divide from the planet, and the rest of space.

 

“Strange, I need your help. We can break the shield together. That’s what Loki told me. He said, use what you remember about our Stones. Once we break the forcefield, everyone can get in. Loki thinks you’ll turn into actual people.” Wanda directed. 

 

“Just tell me when.” Strange agreed to her proposal as Wanda leaned against one side of the wall with Strange closely against the other.

 

“Ready? Now.” Wanda pushed all that was left inside of her through her Mind, while Strange took the Time he still had left within him to allow the forcefield to disappear, the orange and blue planet expanding now, breathing freely.

 

The other souls glided down to the surface, as Wanda and Strange were fatigued, but relieved they did something. They followed back down to where Loki was sitting. Peter was angry.

 

“Look, you fucking idiot. I mean Loki. If you hurt her, you’re screwed.” Peter’s ghost head flew around Loki. 

 

“What’s going on?” Gamora squinted.

 

“Gamora!” Peter turned his head around.

 

“She can’t see you.” Wanda broke the news to Peter.

 

“Why can’t she see me? I know she can.” Quill didn’t let what the girl said phase him.

 

“The only person we can see is Loki because he was in possession of a Stone. Gamora did not have any contact with a Stone, except she was traded to be placed into the Stone instead.” Wanda explained this logic. Wanda could use her powers to help Gamora wake up and plant dreams, but she couldn’t physically speak to her because the souls could only talk to others who had to do with the Stones." 

 

“Man, this is bullshit. And it’s probably all your fault!” Peter whipped his head back toward Loki’s direction. Whoever this Loki guy was, probably a villain, he was a punk. “Why did you do this to her? Get out!” 

 

T’Challa, Groot, Mantis, Drax, and Peter Parker looked at Loki and the harassment by Quill, confused.

 

“Peter. Peter. Stop. Loki isn’t a bad person. Thanos killed him too because he was involved with the Space Stone. When Thanos sacrificed Gamora out of love, he placed her INSIDE the Soul Stone. Loki somehow got here, and now Soul and Space is combined into this pocket universe that no one would suspect, with the help of the Reality Stone.” Strange explained to the raging Quill, as Loki said nothing but smiled, nodding his head.

 

“If Thanos had killed… me and Strange, we would be here too. The Soul World opened because Gamora has this undying love. She doesn’t want to be alone. So she’s collecting the leftovers of other Stones without Thanos realizing. Thanos turned us into ashes because he didn’t want us to help Gamora in our own forms. What can souls do? A lot.” Wanda said, her accent strong and smile wide.

 

“Is she dead?” Quill gasped.

 

“She’s not dead, her body is just in an alternate state. You are yourself, but you aren’t everything you once were. The variables are all different.” Strange added. “Loki doesn’t have his weapons but he has his clothes. Gamora doesn’t have you, but she remembers you and has dreams about you.”

 

“So he’s not bad after all.” Quill floated into Loki’s chest, as Gamora’s eyes widened. Why was Loki having a funny face?

 

“Loki, are you ok?” Gamora was generally concerned for the sudden abnormality in his behavior. 

 

“Quill, no. What are you doing buddy.” Strange was confused, and then he remembered. Suddenly, a Loki head appeared. 

 

Quill had taken over Loki’s body. "He soul switched."

 

“Look, Gamora. What if I told you, I’m not Loki.” Quill told her through the softness of his normal voice, translated in Loki's mischievously sincere tone. “It’s me. Peter.” 

 

“I don’t believe you.” Gamora was on the verge of tears, as she crossed her arms defensively.

 

Quill stood up, in Loki’s armor, walking over to her. 

 

“Take my hand.” He winced, thinking of how much that sentence meant to him personally. 

 

“I’m not dancing. Just leave me alone.” Gamora didn't want any part in the tricks. She just wanted Peter.

 

“Is this guy good?” Loki huffed from the ground, confused as to how quickly Quill swept into his body for this opportunity to get his girl back.

 

“I told you to go right. I know you can’t see anything, but Thanos snapped his fingers. In the snap, Drax, Mantis, Groot, and I disappeared, along with other Avengers. I’m not even kidding. You couldn’t see me before because Thanos turned us into soul heads. You’re IN the Soul Stone. He sacrificed you. Loki got here because you opened up the pocket universe for anyone who was involved with a Stone. Some of the other souls around us are here too. You can’t see them, but they’re really cute.” Peter was convincing Gamora even more, even in Loki's body and tone.

 

“I am Groot!”

 

Groot shouted, as Quill looked under his shining Loki armor and nodded.

 

“Groot just said he’s cute.” Quill tossed Loki’s black hair.

 

“I love you, but you’re crazy.” Gamora shook her head, starting to believe whoever she was talking to. “So where did Loki go?”

 

“Where I was. I literally just walked into his body to tell you this. We’re saving you.” Quill bit his new lip, technically Loki’s.

 

Gamora nodded as she stood up, as Quill put his arms around her waist. He actually felt her touch again.

 

The souls on the ground looked at this Gamora and Loki who was actually Peter in this interaction.

 

“Everybody can tell that’s not me because I don’t show affection like that.” Loki snared, his head bopping around. “Chop chop, let’s get this show on the road Star Lord.” 

 

"Hi Loki!" Peter Parker smiled, astonished he was actually talking to Loki. Like, the New York Loki.

 

“I love you.” Although it appeared that Loki was kissing Gamora passionately, it was Quill’s head and heart inside Loki’s body. 

 

As soon as Loki saw this kiss, he flew back into his own chest and kicked Quill back out.

 

Gamora was still kissing him before Loki stepped back, in shock. “That’s enough of that.” He laughed nervously.

 

Gamora pulled away, sighing. 

 

“She can see us now.” Strange observed, as Gamora and Loki looked down at the heads of the people who disappeared. It was Gamora’s first time seeing them all together, as she was about to cry again. Her father snapped, and this much people, maybe even more, were gone because of him?

 

“Welcome back!” Drax grinned.

 

“I am Groot.”

 

“That’s right Groot, we’re a family of souls who has some major ass kicking to do.”  Quill repeated, looking beyond the orange and blue universe. “Now all that’s left is to find a way out so we can beat the crap out of Thanos.”

 

* * *

Mary Jane held her head over her injury, bleeding out of a small cut on her forehead. She forgot what happened. Her swollen eyes could barely open, confused.

 

Walking onto his ship, Ego went directly to his bed to pick up the prisoner and carried her out of the ship.

 

He stomped through the field, carrying the blonde girl through the rows of crops and past the scarecrow. Bucky noticed the strange man holding the injured girl.

 

“What are you doing with her!?” Bucky twisted his arms around the rope that tied his hands, alarmed at the sight.

 

Ego ignored the scarecrow as he walked straight into the cabin, throwing her onto the ground.

 

Mary Jane coughed before sitting up against the cold wood, as she was faced in front of a purple monster sitting on a wooden throne. His hands were extremely large.

 

“I found her… after all these years. She is the sister of Peter. She is Mary Jane Quill. She’s hurt, the only person I thought could fix this is you sir. I’m old, my powers have weakened, but thanks to your power I am blessed to have a second chance at life. Now give my daughter a chance.” Ego lied, standing behind the girl he captured. 

 

“Is she celestial?” Thanos inquired as he got off his throne and circled his old friend and the new bait. He then put his hand over Mary Jane’s blonde curls, studying her injuries.

 

“N-not entirely… if you use the gauntlet she could have so much potential.” Ego’s eyes lit up at the sight of the burnt gauntlet with the stones still shining in each finger. 

 

Thanos looked at Mary Jane with the sympathy he had toward Gamora. On one hand he knew that he could easily help this suffering girl out to satisfy Ego and continue the legacy. He also knew he could torture her.

 

“Are you sure about this?” Thanos questioned, thinking of how he could cross examine the deal. Ego promised the same future would happen to Peter, but Ego was foolish enough for Peter to slip away.

 

“I am sure.” Ego stuck the lie out as Mary Jane whimpered. 

 

Thanos was happy with his new life and progress he made to contribute to the world’s success in his old life. What power could he give Mary Jane? He snapped without his gauntlet, as the cabin shook and Ego fell to the floor. Mary Jane’s body was transformed back to normal.

 

“You let a foolish man capture you.” Thanos stepped over Ego’s body. 

 

“Come here, daughter. I have the perfect job for you.” Mary Jane quizzically looked at his purple self. He had this simplicity about him, but a powerful and deceiving side. She was considered a daughter of Thanos now.

 

Hours later, Mary Jane was in the last outfit she wore in Milan before she got taken away from her study abroad hotel and captured by the older man, and brought to Thanos’s planet. Now, Mary Jane held onto his purple hand as they walked through the rows of crops together.

 

“You are so like your sisters.” Thanos looked down at his newly found daughter. His Gamora. His Nebula. His Proxima. And now, his Mary Jane.

 

Mary Jane tried to smile, staying in the shade of the crops.

 

“So every day, you will come out here and pick the crops you want.” Thanos instructed. “You can have anything and everything you desire, little one.”

 

Mary Jane shivered as Thanos squeezed on her hand. She squeezed back.

 

“I’m going back inside to rest.” Thanos told his daughter as Mary Jane nodded, dazed in the field. She roamed around by herself, until she came across a scarecrow.

 

“Hey, can you help me?” Bucky pleaded, wriggling his arms.

 

“How can I help a scarecrow?” She wondered.

 

“Climb over the fence and finish untying me.” Bucky told her. “I need to get back to my friend Steve.”

 

“Steve.” Mary Jane repeated curiously as she bent down to untie the knot. “Why?”

“I mean, you have friends to get back to I bet. Whatever planet you’re from. This isn’t Earth.” Bucky sighed, looking down at her progress.

 

“So you’re not an actual scarecrow? And I’m in space?” Mary Jane finished untying him as Bucky jumped off the pole.

 

“I’m a soldier.” Bucky winked. “I don’t think you realize this, but we gotta get out of here. Your new dad has power he stole from the rest of the world to sit in that cabin. Don’t trust him. I wouldn’t. Welcome to space.”

 

Mary Jane opened her mouth to say something, but the words couldn’t come out.

 

“I don’t know where I am either.” Her eyes intertwined up at the perfectly clear sun and sky, thinking of Coolsville, and then back to Bucky.

 

“I know a few people who can help take you home.” Bucky said, trying to find the same relative patch of sky she was staring into.

 

“Ok.” Mary Jane responded, putting the rope down on the soil.

 

“They just gotta assemble.” Bucky looked down at the rope as he chuckled under his breath.

* * *

“I like them a lot. I really do. They can work with this.” Tony approved the four new outfits and one special dog collar on display in the uniform room, in the palace. With Bruce’s help and approval from M’Baku and Shuri, each member of Mystery Inc got a new outfit.

 

Fred was the first to walk in, greeted by a smiling Tony. Fred pointed at himself as he ran up to the glass case which enclosed a bulky silver suit with a solid blue collar and orange trimming where his ascot was. His helmet was a dull yellow. 

 

“How did you do it, Mr. Stark?!” Fred grabbed his suit out of the case.

 

“Ask Bruce.” Tony shrugged as Fred went to go change in the back room. “Shaggy and Scooby! Come in here!” He clapped.

 

“Scooby, for you, we built this awesome collar! Right little guy!” Bruce scratched Scooby as he took his old collar off and adjusted the new one, as Scooby grinned. 

 

“It’s fully equipped with a speaker that can reach any of us, a set of tools, a Scooby Snack dispenser, and of course your initials on the front. Whenever you want something, just press it. You also have your AI, Scrappy.” Tony patted Scooby on the head.

 

“And for Shaggy. Only the finest.” 

 

Shaggy’s eyes twinkled in his slick lime one piece, made out of the softest fabric imaginable, but most durable. He also got a brown overcoat, which was bulletproof, and a refrigerated inside of his jacket just in case he got hungry.

 

“Like, we’re superheroes!” Shaggy jumped into Bruce’s arms, hugging. “Thank you!”

 

The two pals took their outfits and walked around the corner.

 

Daphne was the next to check her outfit out, and she was pleasantly surprised when she saw a skin tight, lavender dress with pink boots attached. On her sleeves there was a thick amount of green fabric, and her headband was also a control panel. 

 

“This is the definition of a woman right here. The substance, the charm, everything. Your boots can switch from flat to heel, and for your sleeves I know you’ve been working on karate so whenever you attack someone you can choose to give them a little extra sleeve action. It’s really heavy. Your headband is a girls best friend, you know your AI will be in there for any need. It’s durable, it’s hot, it’s the newest fashion trend courtesy of the Hulk and Iron Man, and it’s all yours.” Tony gestured his hand out for Daphne to open her case. Daphne squealed. 

 

“Thanks boys!” She tossed her auburn hair and found the rest of the gang.

 

“Velma! We know you’re back there still. Come on out.” Tony called.

 

Velma smiled slightly, fixing her glasses as she approached the only case with an outfit left, as she gasped. “Jinkies.”

 

A low cut bright orange top with chiffon sleeves. On the bottom she had a combination of an orange skirt and leggings. She also had knee socks. It was like her look was transformed. 

 

“Everything here is breathable. It’s also very strong so you won’t get hit. I know you’d like it.” Bruce told her with a smile. “You can move fast, you can switch your skirt to pants or vise versa, it just screams genius to me.” He complimented her.

 

“I think it’s a great technological improvement, if you don’t mind me I will go change immediatel-!” She accepted her outfit with the biggest smile, about to change, when she was stopped.

 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Tony pulled out a pair of glasses that looked just like Velma’s.

 

“My glasses!” She put her hand over her mouth in surprise. 

 

“These bad boys will make you look just like me. They can be very traditional, like your glasses now. Or, if you say a certain word, your AI turns on, you can check your theories, maps, projections, equations, you can talk to any one of us, or you can use them as sunglasses too. If you feel like they’re too loose you could also make them flatter. It’s up to you, really. Whatever your preference, Velma.”

 

Tony took off Velma’s old pair and handed them to her while he put on her new pair. She could see even clearer now.

 

“Doctor Banner, Mr. Stark, thank you so much.” Velma hugged her new outfit as her smile reached her freckled cheeks, her glasses fitting onto her face like normal as she walked out.

 

“They deserve it. I love them all.” Bruce told Tony as the two scientists exited the room and back into the lab. 

 

“Just wait until you see the kids.” Tony smiled as Mystery Inc walked across the hall back into the lab, each one sporting their new outfit. They walked confidently, together, like in 3rd grade, with purpose. They were transformed, improved, and helped by their true heroes, the Avengers. 

 

Rocket’s jaw dropped, admitting they looked cooler than the Guardians did.

 

Okoye had fixed the damage on the Milano it suffered on Titan, but hopefully this ship would last them the fuel and state to go to Knowhere.

 

“Come on, gang.” Fred told them as they walked toward the screens and table with the ashes.

 

The Avengers got what they needed as Shuri wheeled a portable screen and table into the Milano, just in case. 

 

Rocket, Thor, Tony, and Rhodey slid into the captains chairs. Fred, Bruce, and Steve hovered around the back of the ship, looking at maps. 

 

Scooby, Shaggy, and Nebula were up in the Milano’s sleeping quarters, as Daphne looked out the window at Wakanda, wondering what the view must be like from the Milano in space. Natasha joined her.

 

Shuri and Velma were setting up the evidence to reconfigure as Okoye stayed back to watch Wakanda while M’Baku boarded the ship and went towards the engine room. 

 

Velma studied the speaker in the wall as she walked over to it, fascinated at the radio. She saw the cassette tape that was inserted in had a name, 

 

**Awesome Mix Vol 4**

 

as she turned the dial up a few notches and smiled softly. It looked like Peter’s handwriting. She put her ear against the speaker, trying to listen to the song playing, before glancing back at the speaker all together and see the arrow point at the frequencies of the music. She recognized the song:

 

More Than a Feeling. 

 

“Next stop, Knowhere!” Rocket announced to his new crew, piloting everyone away from Wakanda. 

 


	12. Message In A Bottle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by the Police

“The sun is setting.” Bucky nudged Mary Jane on the shoulder as she blinked her eyes open. She fell asleep in the field, not wanting to go back inside to Thanos. Maybe he was asleep too.

 

“Is this really going to work?” Mary Jane couldn’t quite understand the meaning behind Bucky’s plan, taking his arm off? She held onto his left arm. 

 

“Twist it a little more. You’re fine, it’s only made of straw and vibranium.” Bucky patted his amputated arm.

 

Mary Jane nodded as she held the star on his arm up into the sky. 

 

Bucky made sure the projection was stable as he sat back against the pole and held his arm before fixing the metal Shuri made to reveal a star. This was an unusual type of S.O.S., but maybe it would work.

 

Mary Jane ducked back down toward the ground, her heart beating out of confusion of getting busted by Thanos, or the fact she was with someone of a political party that was highly odd. “You’re a Communist soldier?” She caught her breath. 

 

“It’s just a red star.” Bucky assured her, swallowing after that lie. He didn’t want to scare Mary Jane even more today. “This red star will show up in the galaxy somewhere and I’m just hoping it can reach someone out there.” 

 

Mary Jane felt more comfortable with him, her blonde curls flowing at her sides, sitting cross-legged, looking up at Bucky’s projection surrounded by the bountiful amounts of field, wiping her brow. She hoped this signal would reach someone. If Bucky believed it could, so could she. 

_We're doing this for Steve._

* * *

 

 

The Milano freely cruised through asteroid belts and past planets who were barely stable, wondering what Thanos was doing to the rest of the world. Clearly he didn’t care enough to destroy the whole universe.

 

Past Xandar, past Asgard, past Wakanda. Beyond everything, a little farther out stood the crumbling Knowhere and it’s blood-red glow.

 

“Reality.” Tony could see the crackling plasma floating around the planet hanging by a fake thread. 

 

“There it is.” Rocket warned the crew onboard as he flew a little further to stop in front of the Pocket Dimension Storage Vital.

 

Daphne and Natasha’s window filled with shining white and other luminous stars, as fiery red debris floated by, getting an eerie sense of the destruction caused on Knowhere from the Reality Stone.

 

“Hey, that star looks perfect.” Daphne observed, pointing her fingernail against the glass toward the bright red star, composed in the darkened sky.

 

“You’re perfect.” Fred had moseyed over from the front of the ship to check in on Daphne, wrapping his arms around her as Natasha smirked. 

 

“Fred, I know, but it’s not any of the gross stars, see that one all the way out there?” Daphne playfully hit him, leaning into his touch as Natasha became aware of this star too.

 

“Yeah, I can see that. The blinking one? It’s like… some kind of signal.” Natasha took another look from her view.

 

“It’s coming from a planet.” Fred told the two, wondering about why the star was so big and visible.

 

“I’ll go tell someone.” Natasha decided, running past the cabin area and into the control room. Rocket and Velma were situated toward the ship’s door while the others were anxiously watching their exit into space to retrieve the Vital.

* * *

 

“Hey, 6:00. There’s this projection that keeps blaring. It appears to be a red star. We all thought it was just debris from Knowhere, or it could be a phony trick since Thanos wants us to fall for since he knows we can fall for anything.” Natasha tilted her neck sideways, thinking as she gripped the backing of Fred’s empty captain chair, as Bruce stood next to her. She tried to smile at Bruce.

 

“So what? We won’t fall for it then.” Bruce turned over his shoulder to see Velma lift Rocket out quickly, bringing the Vital into the ship. Rocket wheezed, oxygen trying to flow through him as he held the canister which containted the Vital tight before handing it over to Velma. 

 

Velma brought the canister over to Shuri before taking great caution to tune into the current conversation about the red star.

 

“A red star? Shut up.” Steve told someone to pull up a better view of the star, as the Milano did a spin to face the opposite direction. The man shook his head, impressed. “That’s Bucky’s star.” 

 

“White Wolf doesn’t have a star, Captain.” Shuri reminded Steve, as she remembered distinctively recreating his whole arm, painting it over with only the finest vibranium. She looked up after she put the Vital on her table.

 

“Well, we don’t have Bucky.” Steve put his hands on his hips as he walked out of the main room and back through the cabin to the big window, where Fred and Daphne were watching.

 

“And we don’t need him!” Tony raised his voice as his eyes were fixed upon the colored controls in front of him, fed up with the world-stops-for-Bucky-drama. Again **. “Bucky’s not food. Bucky’s not water. Bucky’s not shelter. If were going to drop how far we’ve come for him, I’m gonna call Fury. That star isn’t Bucky, Steve, get that out of your head. You just _WANT_ Bucky so you can at least celebrate the end of the world with him! He’s an illegal, son of a bitch assassin who brings nothing but harm to all of us!** ” Even with Steve out of the room, he made sure he got his point across.

 

“No wonder why I wouldn’t call you!”

 

Steve’s ears rung from how loud Tony was being and how serious he truly was about tearing Bucky down: every word made him think that Bucky wasn’t just a pile of ashes, Bucky was his best friend who was alive. He didn’t let the words get to him, truly, as he stopped in front of the window.

 

“No man left behind.” Steve told Fred and Daphne. If that star truly was something from Bucky, it was coming from a planet that appeared to be stable. If they picked Bucky up, he could have the rest of the answers to what happened with everyone else.

 

Fred cut through the tension of the grumbling Tony and defiant Steve, as he turned down the blaring Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars off.

 

“Look, we have to put our differences aside the rest of the day and remember why we’re doing this. Velma, why are we doing this again?” Fred put his friend on the spot, as Velma jumped when she heard her name.

 

“What? Oh. To find your friends, and stop Thanos.” She fixed her glasses before smiling toward Tony.

 

“That’s right, Velma! All those people out there, are your friends. Let’s save them before it’s too late. Tony, you can focus on the Vital. Steve, you can focus on the star. Everyone else, split accordingly. This isn’t any old divide. This is a mystery. A situation. It’s actually an idea, which we all need to contribute to.” Fred shrugged as he tapped his suit on.

 

Daphne giggled as she hooked her arm around Fred. “That was kinda hot.”

 

Velma gathered Tony, Rocket, Nebula and Shuri around the Vital because she thought they would be best fit for the pocket world.

 

Bruce, Natasha, and Steve were going to take the Milano in the direction of the star signal and investigate it, while Daphne, Thor, Rhodey, M’Baku, and Fred stayed onboard as the others travelled into the pocket dimension. 

* * *

 

“It’s pretty easy. All you gotta do is jump!” Rocket screwed the cap of the Vital around to adjust it. “Velma, could I have any pile of ashes so I can let the Vital know we’ll be going to wherever that person is right now?”

 

Velma nodded, taking a random pair of ashes off of the table and flowing it into the Vital freely.

 

“When I open it, everybody jump in. Hey. Listen. Someone should close the portal too.” Rocket reminded the people not going with them.

 

“So this is legitimate technology that leads to pocket universes. I don’t know if I should invest in it.” Tony scratched the side of his face as Rocket’s two paws carefully opened the Vital as Shuri, Nebula, Rocket, Tony, and Velma swooped into the Vital and got sucked into elsewhere, beyond the highly fake debris of Knowhere’s destroyed reality. Rhodey shut the door to the Vital behind him and put it on Shuri’s lab desk for safe keeping. 

 

 

Shaggy and Scooby sat in Peter Quill’s bed with frowns on. It wasn’t like they could solve the tension like Fred or make a discovery like Velma. With the bigger presence of the Avengers, it was hard to fit in and brag about how good they were. What were Shaggy and Scooby good at? Messing everything up? Eating.

 

“Like Scoob, what’s in that fridge?”

 

Thor stretched before kneeling down to the level of the mini-fridge, opening the door.

 

“What is this?” Thor eagerly took a bottle from the fridge as he read the bizarre label before climbing up the ladder to the top bunk, Drax’s bunk, to sit and take the defining sip.

 

“Now I know why the Guardians are like this.”

* * *

 

 

Tony had pressed his chest to equip him with his Iron Man suit, falling along with the others suiting up in the rushing gust of reality from the Stones. Then, a stillness. And a strong pull to the ground.

 

 

Shuri, Rocket, Nebula, and Tony all thumped onto the orange and blue ground, while Velma landed softly.

 

Loki and Gamora were leaning against this world’s thin layer of boundary, as the souls on the ground sprung up.

 

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!” Peter Parker could recognize that suit anywhere. “They’re here!” His head whizzed about the people who had just landed.

 

“I am Groot!” Groot called Dad out in Rocket’s direction, as Mantis and Drax were so thrilled.

 

Peter Quill couldn’t believe this. How did they all get here?

 

Gamora put her hand over her heart, in tears. “Nebula?”

 

“Sister.” Nebula lifted her metal head off of the ground and muttered, strutting over to her sister’s side and giving her a hug.

 

“Oh great. Rocket, what did you do? This Jem and the Holograms just led us to the Misfits.” Tony saw the strange green girl, before looking at the opposite side and seeing Loki.

 

Quill snorted at Tony’s pop culture reference. “Gamora, Nebula, Rocket, the Guardians are all here!”

“Where’s…Thor?” Loki was pleased with this bizarre rescue mission as he looked around the people who had landed. No sign of his brother.

 

Velma sat herself up. “Thor is on the ship.” She confirmed.

 

“Now, if this is going to work we need our ashes.” Doctor Strange spoke up in the direction of the orange scientist looking girl, as Velma nearly jumped when she saw the protoplasm souls of the people who disappeared. “Then we can talk to the rescuers.”

 

“Jinkies! You are protoplasms, wow. Shuri, could you help me sort them all?” Shuri’s eyes glistened in agreement as she separated each pile. “T’Challa.” 

 

T’Challa’s head zoomed over to his disintegrated self before he pushed his soul into it, and changed back into a real person. He saluted Shuri as she immediately hugged him.

 

Wanda, Strange, Quill, Sam, Mantis, Peter, and Drax all began to lose their ghost-like soul heads and turn back into their original selves once paired with their ashes. Peter ran over to Gamora’s side and wiped the tears off her cheeks. He was relieved.

 

“Doctor Strange. Missed you. How were those outcomes, bud?” Tony helped Strange get to his feet. 

 

“Still that 1.” The man watched the planet overcome with a green color, as a yellow shade started to emerge compared to the blue and orange already.

 

“Wanda.” She adjusted her leather jacket, looking directly at Tony. “I’m sorry for your loss.” He patted her on the back, respectfully.

 

“Thank you,” Wanda responded. “I know how much Vis meant to us both.”

 

“Now, that everyone’s here, let’s wrap the Rescuers up and get back to the Milano!” Tony directed the group of people.

 

“Where are we, anyways?” Nebula pondered.

 

“The Soul World. It’s all Gamora’s, really. Once she noticed Thanos killed me, she thought of me and brought me here. I brought, Space of course.” Loki threw his hand up in the air to gesture to the heavy blues in the sky. “Since Maximoff and Strange are here too, the colors are changing to yellow and green as we speak for Mind and Time.”

 

“It’s like one big box of leftovers.” Quill threw into the mix, as he watched the girl in the sweater sweep the ground for something.

 

“All of us still have a little once of Stone left, we have to use it sparingly. Thanos is giving us this chance.” Strange told everyone the strategy.

 

“Velma?” Quill hopped over the commotion to reach her on the ground, confused. 

 

“Star Lord?” Velma’s gaze recognized that face anywhere. He was a real person. He was alive. She almost forgot his real name. “Oh my gosh, Peter.”

 

“How did you get here? We need to get you out of here…” He grabbed onto her wrist protectively. She was from Terra. She had no chance up here.

 

“She’s with us now.” Tony reminded Quill, as he backed up. 

 

“OK, Tonster.” Quill put his hands up in the air as he went back to Gamora, lacing her hand into his. “That was my third grade Hermione.”

 

“You don’t say.” Gamora played along with his reference.

 

“If she’s Hermione, can I be Harry? I have a great British accent.” Peter Parker slapped his knee before waving to Gamora.

 

“Oh wow, I can finally see myself!” He was excited to know he could be in his own skin again.

 

“You look great, kid. Feeling any better?” Tony called in Peter’s direction.

 

“Mr. Stark!” He ran into him excitedly, as their suits made a little clink. “Oh geez I’m sorry I’m just so excited! How am I feeling? Like a new car who was in an accident but they made it! I made it, Mr. Stark!” 

 

Loki rolled his eyes, halfway done with all the sentiment going on in the crowded world. Wanda slid beside him as Strange walked over to the two. “Oh shut up!” Loki crooned in Tony and the talkative little brat’s direction. It looked like Spiderman to him.

 

The Guardians sat on Gamora’s side of the world, catching up with each other as Rocket was just about ready to have everyone jump back into the Vital. Loki, Wanda, and Strange went first, taking with them the colors of their stones, draining them from the pocket universe. Shuri and T’Challa followed. Then, Peter, and before Tony was about to, he could hear Velma sniffle.

 

“What is it, kid?” 

 

“I lost something.”

 

“Your glasses are on your face.” He said with a smile, trying to make her feel better. Tony jumped into the portal, past the loose ashes, realizing what she lost too. 

 

He landed on the Milano’s floor, in shock.

 

“She can’t find it.” The two lights on Mantis’s antennae glowed in the orange world now. 

 

“What?” Drax asked.

 

Velma knelt down, patting the ground. 

 

Gamora and Drax went back into the portal, landing on the Milano. 

 

Peter pulled Velma from off the ground, confused. Velma looked sad. “Hey. Hey… what can’t you find?”

 

Mantis covered her own mouth, as Rocket looked around.

 

Teenage Groot’s floating head was still on the planet, as he constantly whimpered: 

 

“I am Groot!” To get the other’s attention.

 

“I lost the flora colossus, his ashes.” She huffed, upset at herself. She was careless enough to lose the ashes.

 

“We can just bring him back like this! I promise his protoplasm is right here, I’ll pick him up for you. We can just bring him back to the ship! He’ll be fine!”

 

“I know Groot will be on the Milano. Let’s go, Mantis.”

Mantis and Rocket slipped through the pocket world portal, as Mantis flew by the ashes that Velma used to open the Vital: Groot’s ashes.

 

Velma nodded, trying to listen to Peter’s assurance. “Let’s go Groot.” Quill picked up Groot’s small head as Velma jumped first through the portal, followed by Peter and Groot. As Groot’s soul head attempted to shift into his real plant form, it was too much.

 

“I am Groot!”

 

Halfway through the portal, Groot’s ashes turned a soul-like blue color as his head broke down into minuscule ashes. These ashes spread around the pocket world to seal it shut, the color of orange now just a phase in the sky.

 

Peter was the last one to jump back through the Vital, as Rocket peered into the Vital, watching the world change. His heart was numb.

 

The Milano gained several passengers, but lost one.

 

Velma picked herself up off the ground and walked over to the speaker in tears.

 

“God, it’s not her fault-“ Peter went after her as Mantis, Nebula and Drax lingered around the control room with Tony explaining the mission to Peter Parker. Gamora comforted Rocket, while Hawkeye found Rhodey and T’Challa, Okoye, M’Baku, and Shuri met by the desk to talk about what happened. The Milano must of been parked near the planet with the star projection, because Bruce, Steve, and Natasha were missing. Fred and Daphne were sitting in the shower without the water on, just talking, while Strange and Wanda were debating on opening the door to the sleeping cabins. Loki did a circle around the ship, before he walked by Velma and Peter, eyes hitting the speaker in between them, as he nodded to himself and carried on. 

 

Loki saw Strange and Wanda, as Strange opened the door to find Shaggy and Scooby on the bottom bunk and Thor on the top.

 

Wanda fell in love with the dog as she walked over to pet him. 

 

“Scooby Doo…” Her heart melted, as Scooby shook his paw for her. Loki grinned as Strange sat down on the bottom bunk as well.

 

“Oh, brother.” Thor was sipping at his bottle he found in the Guardian’s fridge, before he spit it out and smiled broadly, jumping off the ladder and standing in front of his brother happily.

 

“How the!”

* * *

 

Natasha, Bruce, and Steve were traveling toward the star’s red blinking light, with extreme caution. As soon as they hit the stratosphere, they noticed that this planet had natural light, and currently the sun was setting. 

 

“Can you see anything else?” Natasha asked Bruce who magnified the environment.

 

“Just a lot of fields, and a cabin. Also, a ship.” 

 

Steve deliberately approved Bruce to fly the pod closer, taking in the planet’s features. How could this be a trap? If this red star planet needs help, the Avengers would save it immediately before Thanos got to it.

 

“A little more.” He made the call to move forward as he insert a little something to drop below.

* * *

 

Mary Jane was half asleep as she woke up to the sun setting into the sky and a faint hum of an engine as Bucky was still protecting strong. A dark, outlined shadow of a ship loomed overhead, as Bucky was hopeful for a rescue. 

 

He waved his left arm around, letting go of the star projection, as the edgy material caught the eyes of the crew up above.

 

A single item dropped down from the ship, which was a small Captain America parachute soldier toy. Falling onto the soil next to Mary Jane, she ran her fingers over the small trinket. 

 

“Captain America?” She asked Bucky, holding up the toy.

 

Bucky smiled down at Mary Jane, feeling accomplished.

 

Thanos rolled over in his throne, waking up from his slumber, immediately looking at his gauntlet to make sure everything was still in tact. He grumbled back to sleep with a suspicious feeling.

* * *

 

Every Breath You Take turned on the radio as Velma caught her breath through her tears, explaining how long Mystery Inc waited for him and how they are all here now. She then explained the science behind what happened, the protoplasms and the Daemon Ritus and the randomonium, before she explained Rocket’s plan with the Vital search for the pocket universe. She finally elaborated on how bad she felt about his mom’s death, his dad’s awful behavior, and Groot. When Rocket needed activation to go to the Soul World, he asked for ashes. Velma picked a random pile, forgetting they were Groot’s. When everyone else got their bodies back, Groot’s was still stuck in the middle of the Vital and hard to process during an escape jump out. 

 

 

What Velma didn’t realize was, as Groot slipped through the void between the Soul World, he sealed it shut, but still strengthened everyone with a connection to an Infinity Stone to yield some power. Groot sacrificed himself out of understanding his body and soul couldn’t make it back to the Milano.

 

 

Peter nodded thinking about her words, fully understanding everything now.

 

Velma and Peter sat on the cabin bench alone, listening to The Police's lyrics with tears in their eyes.


	13. Stand By Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Florence & the Machine

“That’s Scooby Doo, Wanda.” Strange pulled Wanda back to her feet as she giggled. The pop culture, mystery solving phenomenon, was here. In person.

 

“I know. Pietro and I used to..” She thought about watching the news sometimes and seeing who Mystery Inc unmasked next, a weekly ritual in Sokovia.

 

Scooby sniffled at Wanda as he sat back down, Shaggy holding Scooby’s collar.

 

“Like, this ship is awesome.” He admit, grinning with a full stomach on whatever exotic foods were in the Guardians fridge. He kicked his feet onto the bed and smiled again. “I’m Norville, but please call me Shaggy. That’s my made up name.”

 

“Did someone say made up name?” Peter skipped into the cabin, as Thor and Loki stopped their reuniting embrace to deal with the newest shenanigan in the room.

 

“No, sorry. Not here. We’re drinking.” Thor shook his free hand, trying to shoo Peter away. Peter did like his made up name, Spider Man, but honestly would of wanted a made up name like Doctor Strange instead.

 

“There’s a dog too?!” Peter bent down and pet Scooby, amazed. “I could bring you home to Aunt May!”

 

“Tony! Tony! Get this kid out of this room!” Loki snapped, as the room broke out into giggles.

 

“What does it take to get a brotherly moment around here?” Thor downed the can he gripped in his hand.

 

Tony stood up from his seat and walked around the Milano into the sleeping cabins where he found the commotion.

 

“Give him a break, he’s just petting Scooby!” Tony rolled his eyes before turning around to face the hall.

 

“My brother is consuming drinks from Terra.” Loki noticed. “I believe Peter is underage. I said, he needs to leave this room.”

 

Tony spun around to walk into the cabin and pulled two drinks out of the fridge, one for himself, and one for Peter. “Luckily we aren’t on Terra anymore! Think fast, kid.”

 

Peter stopped petting Scooby as he caught the can, and read the label, before taking a sip.

 

“Mr. Stark I don’t feel so good…” Peter didn’t like the fizz of the drink. It made him feel funny- but more of an adult than ever now. Peter broke out into more little laughs.

 

Loki sat next to Wanda as he decided not to drink, but speculate the party with her. Loki and Wanda both knew what Strange expected of them now, composure and seriousness because of the stones pieces still lingering inside of them.

 

Thor crushed his can with his hand after finishing it, and it the can on the ship’s ground. The Guardians cabin was somehow turning into a party. Until Gamora walked out of the bathroom.

 

“What the hell? Okay, no. No, no, stop.” She found Shaggy splayed across her bed.

 

“Please get off of my bed. And the fridge? Why are we getting food from the fridge?” Gamora shook her head, confused about what happened to the Milano when she was gone.

 

“Rot rood.” Scooby told her, as Gamora’s eyes widened.

 

“Are you kidding me? Drinks? Who brought DRINKS?” Gamora picked up the can on the ground as it read, Bud Light.

 

“If Peter brought drinks I SWEAR-“

 

Fred swaggered into the room, amazed. “You found them?” He planned to bring a six pack for the Mystery Inc members, not the Avengers.

 

“Let me know when you guys will be serious about finding Thanos.” Gamora walked out of the cabin and down the hall, to find the other Guardians flying the ship now.

* * *

I Want You Back suddenly started to softly play throughout the speaker, as Velma and Peter still sat quietly, listening.

 

Peter stood up as he adjusted the volume dial, before glancing down at Velma.

 

“You ok?”

 

“Yeah. I should get back to work.” How was Velma supposed to feel? First about Peter’s involvement in this mess, second about losing Groot? She made her way over towards Shuri’s table, wanting to get everything right this time. Back to tracing the materials.

 

Peter was just in denial on how Mystery Inc made it this far, and everything that happened had led to this. Losing Groot again was a tough pill to swallow, this time, probably in the worst way. No spare seeds, no second chances. Just, each other. He really needed someone right now. He walked over to the cockpit of the Milano and found everyone except Gamora in their chairs, with Groot’s chair empty.

 

For once, in a long time, the Guardians were serious, the Milano was still, and they were quiet.

 

The Avengers on the other hand, who knows.

 

Gamora huffed as she could overhear the muffled cheers.

 

“I know.” Peter could figure out why Gamora was upset. It was like the Avengers were taking over.

 

“They’re celebrating.” The alien couldn’t fathom why. Maybe it was because they didn’t have a connection to Groot like the Guardians did. She hoped they respected her room and the fridge more, instead of getting wasted and making it a mess. She knew she was quick to assume Peter somehow brought drinks from Terra onto the ship: she would of never expected them to be in the cabin fridge, and for anyone to notice them. Actually, Fred brought them.

 

He took a strand of Gamora’s black and purple hair and gently tucked it behind her ear. “I love you.”

 

Gamora nodded, understanding as she closed her eyes and collected herself. To her surprise, Peter had slowly leaned in to kiss her before pulling away calmly to walk over to his rightful captain’s chair.

 

“We can celebrate, like this.” The Milano was soaring over the stars calmly, rounding the mysterious planet with the star on it, as Peter threw his hands up toward his sides and swiveled his chair around to motion to the rest of the Guardians.

 

Velma stopped tinkering with the ashes as she looked up from her table, catching a glimpse of Peter and the green girl. Shuri’s fast fingers typing into her keyboard made Velma realize she couldn’t be distracted by affection.

 

“Bucky found!” Shuri read the message off of her screen as she ran up to talk to Peter.

 

“What am I supposed to do with this information?” Peter thought about this. Bucky found. Did they find Bucky? So what?

 

“Could you announce it into the intercom?” Shuri asked politely. “It’s an urgent message.”

 

“The intercom can reach all parts of the Milano.” Velma added in, before going back to trace the ashes.

 

Gamora rolled her eyes, confused at the orange girl. Nebula shook her head to herself, doubtful. Drax laughed at the name Bucky, while Rocket’s eyes lit up.

 

“Attentionnnnnn Milano!” Peter put the intercom up to his mouth and started to laugh before Rocket took it.

 

“Look, Star Sandwich isn’t gonna say this correctly. Let me tell you-“ Rocket spoke, until Shuri took the microphone up and sighed dramatically.

* * *

The cabin went quiet, as the excited heroes stopped chattering.

 

“We found Bucky.” Shuri told them confidently. “He’s on the planet with the star.”

 

They soon erupted into more cheers, running back into the hallway, as Tony stayed behind. Did he really want to deal with this right now?

Loki and Wanda walked out in front of Doctor Strange, before Strange saw Tony sitting on the bed with an empty can. Tony threw the can at the wall, not wanting to move.

 

“Tony.” Strange told him in a serious voice.

 

“They went. Didn’t they.”

 

“They went for a reason, Tony. I know what happened to Bucky. In the soul world, Bucky turned to ashes again. Now, he’s down there. Sure, he has the star to let us know he’s alive, but you know what else is down there? Thanos. His new life.”

 

“Well I’m certainly glad Bucky found someone compatible for him.” Tony retorted, uninterested in the hype.

 

“He’s not the biggest Bucky fan.” Loki chimed in, poking his head back through the door as Tony was ready to chuck the can at the most annoying God.

 

“Loki.” Strange said sternly as Wanda took over from here. She dragged Loki out of the doorway and Strange’s business, not wanting to start more drama.

 

“That’s the Winter Soldier to you.” Wanda winked towards Loki as she dragged him by the hand to meet the crowd in the front of the Milano, staring down at the mysterious planet. Thor stood in between Loki and Wanda.

* * *

“He got it.” Steve was impressed Bucky was holding up the figurine, as Steve could also make out a feminine figure by his side. “Let’s land in the field.”

 

Bruce nodded, as the pod got closer and closer, the rolling hills and endless fields became much more life sized. The ships engine started to hum a little louder than they wanted, but who else would hear except Bucky?

 

Natasha scoped the land out, before plugging her observations back into the computer to send to Shuri on the Milano.

 

As soon as the ship touched the soil, Bucky and Mary Jane ran towards the door.

* * *

 

Bucky banged on the door desperately. “Steve!” He asked loudly.

 

Mary Jane was out of breath from the run across the field, and the ship that landed. Her heart paced with a happy sense of relief, maybe this ship was a rescue mission. The projection worked.

 

“Are these your friends?” Mary Jane asked Bucky, as Steve and Bucky ran into each others arms for a defining hug. Natasha put her arms around Bruce, as they noticed the reunion from the ship.

 

“The best anyone could ever have.” Bruce responded to the new girl, as Natasha tried to figure out her story.

 

“Let’s go, there’s a lot to explain for the end of the world.” Steve told Bucky, looking into his eyes and recognizing his best friend since the beginning. “Just get on the ship with us and you’ll be fine. She can come too.”

 

“I’m Mary Jane.” The blonde girl introduced herself shyly as the wind continued to pick up around the planet. She was ready to step aboard, before collapsing to the ground.

 

Thanos woke up again.

 

“Don’t think I know your secrets. Your plans. The longing to save Bucky. You let in my prized possession on your plan. And now, my daughter will remain back home. Where she belongs. So go, Bucky. But know what you just caused.My reign to continue.”

 

That voice. The deep, bitter confidence.

 

Natasha gasped as she heard a snap again, the pod door shutting automatically and soaring up through the sky without any notice. Steve, Bucky, Bruce, and Natasha jolted up, the strength of Thanos manipulating the ship and bouncing it out of the planet.

 

“She’s not his daughter! She’s from Earth!” Bucky yelled, as the pod attached back onto the Milano, the passengers distraught from whiplash as they walked back into the hallway.

* * *

“There’s no use in staying here anymore, daughter. Let us go to Xandar, we have all the Time in the world to kill.”

 

Thanos emerged from out of thin air, as he picked Mary Jane up protectively and carried her in his arms. Mary Jane had been put in a dream state and knocked unconscious for as long as Thanos wanted her to be.

 

“Never trust a scarecrow.” He shook his head to himself as his purple thumb brushed over her cold forehead, before he snapped again and hoped that he could be brought to Xandar without the gauntlet, since all of the Stones were apart of him.

* * *

Bucky was taking slow breaths, the first to emerge from the pod, as he walked right into the room with Strange and Tony.

 

“He’s down there.” Bucky told the room, as Steve walked up behind him and put his arm around Bucky’s shoulder for support.

 

“Thanos was down there.” Bruce paced into the front of the ship nervously, moving past the crowds and over to Shuri as he wiped the dust and sweat off his brow.

 

Natasha had hit her head on the ship, but felt fine. “He took the pod and threw it back up to space. We got Bucky, but someone else is left with him.”

 

“Yeah, he said she was his daughter.” Bruce concentrated into the control panel as he tried to find the coordinates for Xandar, Peter finishing up the rest of the code through his chair.

 

Nebula and Gamora glanced anxiously at each other, both present. They had another sister? The cabin started to talk.

 

“What’s her name?” Gamora questioned. “Who else could be our sister-“

 

“Her name was Mary Jane or something.”

 

“Not her.”

 

Peter slammed the control panel, as Velma held him back.

 

Scooby growled while Shaggy repeatedly pet him. Fred held Daphne a little tighter, while Velma looked up at Peter, not wanting to cry in front of everyone.

 

“How?” Peter’s voice cracked, wanting an answer as he turned to Bruce, Velma trying to pull him away.

 

"We have to go."

 

Peter looked down at the planet, fingers smudged against the Milano glass, with a somber look for answers. Velma walked away from the controls to stand by Mystery Inc, upset.

 

Bruce pressed the engine to start, the lush land of Thanos and his twisted retreat zooming out of the Milano's sight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my it's been a while. My apologies for not being more active, with exams and everything my last week of school is this week so hopefully I can start to update more consistently! Seriously, thank you for all the MI love. I hope you're having a good time


	14. Dream On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by aerosmith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What?! A MI update? It's what the people deserve :') But I was feeling very generous since a high quality Infinity War release. Stay tuned beautiful people  
> -Rea

The catastrophe on Xandar left the planet lifeless. Half of the living on the planet were now dead. Buildings destroyed, alarms blared, Nova Corps trying to help themselves out of the rubble to assist the other people.

 

Until Thanos snapped his fingers. It happened so fast. Every building down began to slowly piece itself together from dust and smoke to structure and how it looked before. The common scars and scrapes across people’s faces had healed. The fires extinguished themselves. The evacuation and alarm bells were in reverse order, all the way to the beginning of silence from the headquarters. It was like Xandar was back to normal again. Except every citizen knew what occurred before their eyes: the end of the world. Irani Rael was gasping for air as she looked at her navy blue suit, in shock. She turned on the security camera to check on the vault.

 

Thanos took Xandar over in the first place for the Reality Stone. After he took what he needed from Xandar, he showed his power by destroying the city. So why was he back again?

 

“There’s no stone here, Thanos. You already took it.”

 

The hint of sincere shock questioned into the camera. “I did? All I remember is that you’re just living in the Reality you want to see, but you can’t.”

“We’re going to do this in a civilized way, Thanos. My people will get you. Want us to call SHIELD?” Irani tried to build her own confidence. He had to be stopped.

 

Thanos shook his head. “They won’t be getting any calls now.”

 

He threw Mary Jane onto the ground, as Irani jumped at the body in front of her feet. “You need to leave, right now.” Her voice was firm as she scrambled to press buttons for backup soldiers.

 

“You first.” Thanos snapped every person except Mary Jane out of the picture, walking into the vault. He could make Xandar crumble again at any time, he just enjoyed the bait of having his daughter around. He tossed Mary Jane’s body into the vault where the purple stone was held, and shut the door so he could be placed inside as well.

 

“This is it, daughter. My final stand. You, my love, are powerful too. Now wake up.”

 

Mary Jane’s eyes fluttered open, leaning against the wall of the hard safe. She could feel her scrapes and bruises, her body weak with confusion as she tried not to cry. “Where am I? Where’s Bucky?”

 

“Don’t worry about it. Come here.” Thanos summoned her, as Mary Jane walked across the room to stand in front of Thanos, unhappy. Why was she still with him?

 

As Thanos brushed his purple hand down Mary Jane’s blonde hair, she shivered. She felt uncomfortable and sick. She didn’t belong here. This wasn’t real.

 

“You are mine. The most precious stone. I have given you some of space, mind, reality, power, time, and soul. As long as you stay in here, you’re safe. With this.”

 

He held up a triangular container, with a glowing orb inside, passing it over to the girl he kept captive.

 

Mary Jane didn’t feel any different. In fact, she felt home-sick. She played along though, nodding. Then, it hit her. Mystery Inc. Where could they be right now?

 

* * *

“I’m done with this! Could anybody else be done with this?” Peter hit the side of the Milano, fuming. “We really need to do something productive. We can’t chase him forever.”

 

“He can chase us forever.” Tony remarked, looking at where Bruce was flying now.

 

“Mary Jane had been down there forever with him.” Bucky spoke up, as Shuri took note.

 

“She’s just another one of his victims. He’s had many before.” Gamora said calmly from her seat.

 

Peter walked out of the cockpit, not wanting to get mad at Gamora. Fred and Daphne realized that most of Peter’s friends didn’t know Mary Jane like he did. Shaggy and Scooby were upset, but nobody was as pissed off as Peter was.

 

“When I looked at the outcomes, none of them mentioned this girl. She is powerful, though.” Strange remarked, Loki and Wanda trying to understand this mystery character.

 

“She can’t be related to Thanos. She’s from Earth.” Wanda spoke this simple logic, as Loki tried to process his findings.

 

“She was picked up by Ego.” That’s all Loki could process. “And… Peter’s first crush.”

 

Gamora turned over her shoulder to see Loki talk, as her cheeks flushed. That’s why he cared so much. His first love.

 

“Ego…” Velma typed some data into her computer. “Listen, I don’t know much about space but the patterns of sensitivity I’ve been tracking, Thanos tends to travel to places now with less light, or fading light. So it would be a huge help if you could find me a planet that’s duller than usual.”

 

Velma walked away from the crowd, past Steve, Bucky, Rhodey, T’Challa, Okoye, M’Baku, Rocket, and Falcon, and toward the back of the ship.

 

The bedroom door was locked.

 

“Peter.” Velma sniffled.

 

“Go away, Dinkley.” He wasn’t in the mood.

 

“I know how to defeat Thanos. We just need you. The 8 year old I knew in Coolsville. That you. He’s in there, somewhere.”

 

“Yeah and Mary Jane’s out there with fucking world domination Grimace. How could I save her, I screw everything else up. She’s gone.”

 

“Mystery Inc can try, Wakanda can try, so can The Avengers, but out there, you’re missing one Guardian.”

 

Peter opened the door slowly as on his way out he wrapped his arms around Velma and they hugged. Velma said softly, “We can win this… infinity war. Shuri and I know how. C’mon.”

 

Walking toward the cluster of hereos in the ship, progress was being made. Natasha and Bruce thought the only logical places Thanos could be in were either Titan or Xandar, both because a shadow of temporary night or distress were visible, without any sun.

 

Maps and charts were spewed around, along with computer screens glowing with information and samples of randomonium everywhere.

 

“Jinkies, I got it.” Everything clicked for Velma as the room fell silent. “Thanos is on Xandar for the Daemon Ritus.”

 

“Floor it, Bruce.” Tony told Bruce, as Rocket stepped up to help pilot.

 

“That was an artifact from one of our mysteries, Velm. Spooky Island. There’s no place for it here.” Fred tried to break the news to her that whatever her theory was, wouldn’t cut it.

 

“A girl can dream.” Velma huffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she walked back toward Shuri’s side. Peter stood in front of their scanner.

 

“Well, there’s only one place in Xandar I know of where the artifacts are safe..” He looked at Gamora to see if she knew.

 

“NOVA.”Gamora walked over to the computer, and helped type in the research bar about how the headquarters were laid out.

 

“Might I let everyone know that we need to get the Daemon Ritus before Thanos converts his stones into it fully.” Strange explained, Loki and Wanda realizing that as well.

“Like, INTO the Daemon Ritus? That’s way too powerful, Scoob!” Shaggy couldn’t afford to lose his best friend to the power of the souls again. The Daemon Ritus was years old now, and emptied of all souls when Thanos took Xandar over to conquest his first stone. Which meant, the people in ashes turned to souls, or went to the Soul World. Now, using the Ritus as a container, the power of all stones were guaranteed to win.

 

Closing in on the world of Xandar hanging by a thread, soaring down into the atmosphere under the cloaked land, the final plans were made on how everyone was going to approach this confrontation.

 

“She’s not dreaming.” Loki said under his breath as the ship flew lower, knowing how accurate the fate of the world could be if Velma didn’t mention the artifact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter @cosmicreas


	15. Beat It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by michael jackson

“That’s not the Xandar we know.” Rocket began to choke up, shocked by the half-destructed world.

 

“Can you get a reading on the NOVA Corps? I can’t even see their headquarters.” Gamora told Velma and Shuri, darkness and heavy smoke filling the planet.

 

Velma tapped her corresponding plots into Bruce’s main controls, while Drax helped steer.

 

“I need everyone on board with us. Mary Jane is a very special girl. Childhood friends. She should be apart of this gang, but instead she went to Europe to study abroad where that son of a bitch Ego hurt her. Destroy Thanos, but not her. Got it? Is everyone fired up?” Peter walked around his ship, explaining to everyone how pumped he was to finally kick Thanos out of existence, or at least thats what he hoped.

 

“So your muscles, swords, suits, we need everything. All effort put forth. Today could of been our last, but Thanos is giving us a chance to win. Let’s do it. Little guy, turn up the music.” Peter told the younger Peter Parker as he put his suit on, while giggling.

 

Beat It by Michael Jackson seemed fitting for the final push like this one.

 

“Shuri, Strange, Wanda, Thor and Quill. You’ll be coming with me to get to the safe. This is the highest point of interest and the only important place Thanos would want to hijack.” Velma drew a diagram of the supposed dimensions of the room, and pointed to the safe. “We need as much light as possible. It can be a spur of the moment projection, a light up suit, a hammer spark, walkman button, anything. Bring it with you, but keep it dark until we get up there.” Velma fixed her glasses and sighed, before moving on to the second part of the building. “For the Daemon Ritus.”

 

Quill agreed with this first layer of the plan, as Strange exchanged a glance with Wanda who was fidgeting her hands. Loki’s facial expression glazed over when he realized he would be separated from his brother, but he was fine though. Thor would be much more useful than him, up there with the big mission.

 

“Loki, Bucky, Tony, Scooby, Rocket, Daphne, Natasha. Hallways. The hallways are important because you are responsible for either containing or defeating Thanos if he escapes that way.”

 

“If he snaps again it’s over.” Bucky spoke up, trying to sense the loophole in her brilliant, but over-achieving plan.

 

“That’s the point! When he snaps, we won’t be affected because we would of won by then.” Velma snapped back at the boy with the nice arm, continuing confidently.

 

“Cap, Fred, Okoye, M’Baku, Drax, Nebula, Rhodey, Manits, Falcon, outside the building. I’m not sure if civilians are still around, but please consider their safety first. No family, woman, man, child, resident of Xandar, should have to deal with this mess. Furthermore, protect and stay alert if you feel like you should be somewhere else.”

 

Velma was almost done assigning roles for the mission, as she was ready to finish up with the most important part.

 

“Shaggy, Bruce, Peter Parker, Gamora. Guarding the ship. Not only that, but communicating with everybody. You are our last line of defense. You could be the people who easily survive just like that because you have the keys to the Milano.” Velma’s logic was simple, have a few people stay here.

 

Shaggy grinned, feeling the responsibility of his major role sink in, before Gamora rolled her eyes, done with the shenanigans. She didn’t agree with the stupid plan that this girl from earth was spewing on about.

 

“Well, we’re here. Can you see it?” Bruce pointed to the window, outlining the building and staring at the pitch black sky.

 

“Looks like it’s the beginning of the end, guys.” Rocket said upwards to the taller people, as the Milano’s doors opened and the group of heroes walked out into the charcoal dawn encased around the planet.

 

The people who were in charge of finding the safe started to run up the winding staircase. A headquarters of pristine colors and clarity felt dipped into a dusted wonderland, as the group down below started to stand ground in hallways on the first floor. Velma brushed the darkened powder off of her glasses and kept persisting forward, following Shuri’s light up diagram as they approached Nova Prime Rael’s room, and safe. 

 

“Wait. Before we went in.” Velma paused, as everyone looked back at the girl. “I just wanted to say, thank you. For being my heroes.”

 

The entryway fell silent, wondering if they could hear Thanos’s massive footsteps, or Mary Jane cry out over Velma’s meaningful comment.

 

Meanwhile, downstairs Scooby and Rocket were sniffing around for recent whereabouts. Daphne and Natasha wished each other the best of luck and decided to stand in a back-cornered hallway, as Tony and Bucky were stationed on the hallway toward the left. Loki was waiting in the middle of the lobby.

 

Then, he saw Okoye give the Wakandan salute. Loki crossed his arms over his chest and tried to smile, as the whole stations began to catch on.

 

To break the serious silence on the upstairs level, Velma took a steady breath and collected herself. “Ok, we can go in now. Lights on.”

 

Thor’s eyes flashed with an electric charge, nodding. Everyone prepared the light they would bring to overpower the darkness, as Peter stepped up to open the door first and greet one of the people he despised the most.

 

“Hey Grimace, it’s time to beat it!”


	16. Take On Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by a-ha

The door to the safe started to move, until it opened completely with a powerful gust of wind.

 

Thanos could recognize that voice anywhere, and Mary Jane even started to, before she held the Daemon Ritus in her hands and gazed into the dark… until, she saw a light.

 

Wanda started to create the friction to start up her glowing red hands, she wasn’t ashamed of how much light she could bring in, as she threw some energy toward the endless black smoke surrounding the room.

 

Thor then joined in, striking his ax just enough to electrocute the safe, and make everyone shake, even Mary Jane, witnessing this strange occurrence as she held the golden pyramid in her hand and panicked with fear. One mistake and she could ruin all of infinity.

 

Thanos was stunned that the pathetic heroes were even attempting this. When he saw Tony flash his suit on, he squinted from how shiny and light it was. Someone else was holding… a flashlight? Another girl dripped with jewels and tribal armor, invading the over-taken vault.

 

That voice again.

 

Peter Quill took his headphones off and shined the small red blinking light on his Walkman, crossing his arms. He almost couldn’t even see Mary Jane, her figure against the wall directly behind her captor.

 

“Foolish. Weak. There’s no point anymore.” Thanos was tempted to flash his bare hand, he didn’t even need a gauntlet, just a snap to really mess things up.

 

“If you step out of the way for a second, this could be over.” Peter drew his gun, not afraid.

 

“For the head, Quill.” Thor sizzled, feeling the energy run through himself.

 

“Be careful, Peter.” Velma warned him, knowing how emotional and impulsive he could get.

 

Mary Jane knew, and was on the verge of trying to run to make sure it was really her. She couldn’t drop the Daemon Ritus though, as her body was starting to get heavier. Thanos’ source of power.

 

“Velma? It’s me..” She choked up on her words as she began to remember. “Mary Jane! From Coolsville-“

 

“I know. We’re saving you. Just stay calm, okay?”

 

“Oh my gosh, is Peter there?!”

 

“I’m here with some of my friends, yeah.”

 

Thanos stood in between everyone, waiting for Peter to make his move.

 

“Do it, you could never.”

 

The sweat on Peter’s brow dripped off, as the group of people banded behind him. Shuri kept alerting the ship of what was going on, whispering into her bracelet, as the light was starting to overpower the darkness, all Peter had to do was shoot Thanos.

 

“Not even to Gamora.”

 

Peter was fed up.

 

“That’s it.”

 

Someone screamed.

* * *

Gamora kicked the vent of the Milano. “Are you KIDDING ME? I’m MORE than watching the ship. Everyone else is out there, why not us? I worked my ASS off to get out of the Soul World. My FAMILY is inside of there. All that’s left.”

 

Bruce translated Shuri’s updates onto a screen, as Peter Parker listened to Gamora.

 

“Why don’t we play some music so we can all calm down?” Peter skipped over to the radio.

 

“Like, I wish I was in there too. My dog is in there. So are my friends. I’m always the leftovers, though.” Shaggy sulked, agreeing with the green-skinned girl.

 

Peter then cranked the volume up and blasted, Take On Me by aha. Way too loud. So loud, the whole ship jumped in surprise. Gamora side eyed the kid, as Shaggy covered his ears.

 

“PETER! SHUT IT OFF!” Bruce was mad.

 

“Sorry Hulk.” Peter giggled, he couldn’t help himself. He decided to turn the song down to a reasonable volume. Maybe they liked battle music.

 

“I’m sorry guys, but I can’t sit here and let this happen, take this loss again. I have to go.” Gamora exited the ship, walking out. “I’m out.”

 

Bruce cringed, feeling responsible. “The last line of defense, Gamora…”

 

“Like, I’m out too.” Shaggy followed Gamora’s rebellious lead, walking out of the Milano.

 

Peter then gave Bruce puppy eyes, as if he wanted to be involved with the action.

 

“Peter, if you leave, tell everyone that Shuri requested backup on the 2nd floor.”

 

“Got it, Mr. Banner.” Peter nodded, his spidersuit surrounding him with a happy jog, feeling like he was contributing to the cause.

 

Bruce then talked into the transmitter that went to Shuri’s bracelet.

 

“If I can, I’ll be there.” He stared at his green veins starting to form as he smashed the Milano controls in excitement, and anger.

* * *

“Ayo everyone! Listen! Get up to the second floor right now! We need all the help we can get! Shuri said!” Peter started to swing from the webs he was producing, alerting the stations to go up the stairs.

 

Gamora was halfway there, Nebula and Loki by her side, as more people started to follow. She noticed the safe door was opened, as through the darkness, she saw Peter standing face to face in front of her father.

 

She screamed.

 

“Peter!”

 

The whole room began to bounce erratically as Peter shot Thanos in the center of his head. Thanos’s heavy weight fell back onto the floor, as Mary Jane dove out of the way, the Daemon Ritus slipping out of her grasp and shattering onto the floor.

 

“Lights, now!” Velma yelled, as the Daemon Ritus opened and a rainbow substance started to flood throughout the room. The heroes running up the stairs all ducked down, the gust of power feeling so strong around them.

 

Suddenly, the Hulk burst through the lobby and waited for the moment to enter. Even he felt different, feeling Thanos collapse.

 

The combination of suit, shield, forcefield, lightning, jewelry, flashlight, and buttons went directly toward the broken object, as the black around the room began to fade away. Embers and dust circulated, until they all fell peacefully.

 

Loki held Gamora back as Nebula hugged her, confused by what was happening. The heroes felt helpless, but so changed, watching what was happening. That’s how they defeated Thanos? With… light? Cap held his shield over the overflow of Avengers and Guardians. Falcon struck his wings open, concerned. Rhodey’s was shaking in his suit, feeling the tremors of the fight. Mantis pushed everyone aside, running up the stairs and into the office too. Even she wanted to cry, as Drax followed her. Rocket tried to sneak by too, as Shaggy held Scooby close. Daphne, Fred, Natasha, and Bucky were still on the ground, Peter Parker swinging from the ceiling looking in on the scene. Okoye and M’Baku were helping Hulk, trying to start a chant.

 

If this was the end, what a way to go out again.

 

Peter put his gun on the floor in front of Thanos, as Thanos stared up at him, desire still wilting in his eyes.

 

“Are you going to snap, or should I?” Thanos smirked, not wanting to die, as he muttered those words.

 

“Snap, Peter.” Velma encouraged him, shining her flashlight over the scene.

 

“Peter!” Gamora choked up, her body trying to break his grasp that held her.

 

“Fucking do it already, right now!” Tony yelled, his palms about to tire out from the light he was giving the Daemon Ritus.


	17. The Love Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> unchained melody (dance)/the love inside by ghost the musical's original cast recording

Peter snapped, as everything fell frozen in his mind. Nobody moved, nobody talked. Until, Thanos grumbled.

 

“You’re almost there.”

 

Peter felt like he should respond to that son of a bitch. He loathed Thanos. He felt… upset. Confused. Why was he the one to snap? His pocket began to play Brandy, one of his mom’s favorite songs. His mom. She had a name. Meredith.

 

Thanos was part of the downward spiral that killed her, starting with his dirtbag of a father, Ego. Then, what broke his heart the most. Not the lyrics overpowering his head, and Thanos’s final manipulation trick before burning in hell, it was a cry for help.

 

“Peter?”

 

“Mary Jane, we gotta get you out of here.” He rushed over to her side, as she was there on the floor, ruined. Her hands were shaking as she watched the infinity stones on the floor lay there.

 

“Don’t cry.” He took her hands and tried to calm her down, understanding her fear.

 

“I don’t feel good, I don’t know what happened. Why are you here?” She looked at him through blurry eyes, she was genuinely concerned for him. “How do you know him? You shot my dad.”

 

“He’s not your dad, Mary Jane, get that out of your head.” Peter held her close, pressing his temple against her bruised forehead and trying to squeeze his eyes shut, thinking of a way to make her feel better.

 

“So he’s… dead?” She questioned shakily.

 

“I think so. He’s giving us a chance. This would be my reality right now. I don’t know how or why you got here, but I’m Star Lord now, and Mystery Inc. re-banded to stop him from taking the world over.”

 

Mary Jane listened to him, her body weakening. “I can’t die here… what do I do? I’m a stone.”

 

What was she talking about?

 

“You aren’t a stone, Mary Jane, don’t say that… shhh.”

 

“I’m a love stone, he doesn’t need me.” Mary Jane said quietly, more tears welling up. “Thanos can freeze time and distort reality, but he can never get to the love inside. His version of love was to capture people like me.”

 

Peter sat there, stunned with understanding as his Walkman continued to recite the lyrics:

 

_“Yeah Brandy used to watch his eyes while he told his sailor’s story, she could feel the ocean fall and rise, she saw it’s rage and glory. But he had always told the truth, Lord, he was an honest man. And Brandy does her best to understand.”_

 

Her body began to glow crystalline pink color, her hands leading Peter’s to touch her heart.

 

“If you snap again, you’re going to see something that was meant to be seen so many years ago. Everything will go back to normal, I will be fine, but this is the end of your fight with Thanos. Do you really want that, Peter?”

 

She gazed at him dreamily like she did the night they watched the sun set together at the treehouse.

 

“Yes.”

 

Mary Jane smiled, a few last tears running down her cheeks and past her blonde curls, as she nodded.

 

Peter snapped.

 

Thanos was defeated.

 

The room resumed life.

 

Mary Jane woke up.

 

But Peter, he was somewhere else.


	18. Dancing Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by the cast of mamma mia! here we go again

He could feel the warmth in his palm. Ashes started to crumble around the pink gem, as the setting formed around him.

 

A high school gym. The Crusaders logo in the background. He never got to attend high school…if this is where Mary Jane sent him, but now, he was in it. Leather jacket and all.

 

He noticed spotlights running around the wooden floors, teens of all ages crowding around each other, and a huge punch bowl. Out of all places, he was here. No heroes were in sight. Then, a commotion began.

 

A group of boys crowded around each other. More specifically, a hoard of eager bystanders.

 

“Get him, Wisely!” A pack of boys stood on one side of the makeshift fight ring, rooting for the bulkier boy with a devious smirk on his face. The other option was a contender with flowing locks, in an overcoat and sunglasses, squaring up with the other person named Wisely.

 

Thinking about it twice, Peter zoned in on the person fighting Mr. Wisely, his old classmate Patrick’s, dad. In fact, punch was just thrown by Mr. Wisely onto the undershirt of the other guy. That other guy… was Ego. Peter felt angry, but astonished by the fight unfolding in front of him.

 

He guessed some things never changed, family rivalry continued, like the 3rd grade frog incident. But, this was different. His dad in high school somehow just got served with a big helping of punch, and shoving. How would he fight his sorry ass back from that bold move?

 

Suddenly, a girl whispered into the ear of the DJ who was taking requests, as the background music shifted to a familiar song, Dancing Queen. This girl had beautiful, long blonde curls, a smile spread across her face, and the enthusiasm to dance along the stage in front of everyone.

 

Peter found her energy infectious, as instead of watching the fight, he watched the girl freely dance. She shook her arms up and down, swaying freely, and twirling around in her flower printed dress under the spotlights as happiness started to spread around Coolsville High School. Even Ego shook hands with Mr. Wisely before they all clumped toward the stage in a mosh pit shape as they all broke out into disco moves.

 

Ego peeled his sunglasses off, to see the free spirited girl dancing across the stage.

 

Peter understood who that was now. His mom, Meredith.

 

How would Mary Jane know about this? He didn’t even know, until now. That’s where Ego first saw her… the ‘love of his life’ he would take to her grave.

 

In that moment, Meredith didn’t even care about how she looked or who she was around. She probably didn’t even feel anything for Ego, because all she cared about was dancing the way she wanted to and bringing the class together with happiness. If only she could live like that forever.

 

Peter looked down at the stone again, trying not to break out in the dance moves passed down from her, or in tears because of how in love he was with this scene. He brushed his fingertips over the stone, before thinking about Mary Jane.

 

And sure enough, the people in the picture started to turn to ashes.

* * *

Peter thought this was some sick joke, and felt strongly alerted that Thanos or Ego could come out to trick him, but no. Now, the gymnasium looked much more modern and renovated, as clumps of teens dotted the dance floor, the buffet of food looked more promising, and chaperones surrounded the boarders to make sure no inappropriate dancing was happening.

 

A certain group of people caught his eye. They looked a lot like his old friends. Fred and Daphne were in their normal ascot and dress attire, as they danced with each other and sang along to the current song with Shaggy and Velma. They were dancing… at a high school dance. Something Peter missed out on. Not much has really changed. Most teens were urging to grind on each other now, and sit out instead of dance. But that group of four danced and lip-synched like fools to ABBA’s Dancing Queen.

 

Then, he saw her. A beautiful, poised girl dressed in all pink. Her perfect curls bounced on her shoulders as she strut into Mystery Inc’s dancing circle, her eyes and lips wide with pure spunk and happiness as she sang along. She owned the night. She was the dancing queen. She… was Mary Jane.

 

Mary Jane started to look more and more like Meredith. Her spitting image. He found comfort in squeezing the stone tighter, happy that everyone was just, happy. Meredith made her high school dance happy. Mystery Inc made each other laugh, and didn’t care about being popular. Everyone celebrated the love. Which Peter couldn’t get enough of lately. He noticed Mary Jane dance so close to Shaggy, Shaggy twirled her around before dipping her over to kiss her sweetly.

 

He really hoped that Shaggy would treat Mary Jane better than Ego would treat Meredith, he was sure of it. In fact, he had seen enough parallels for the day, and was content with what happened. He had so much to thank Mary Jane for, he had a new song to put on the mixtape, he had a bunch of superheroes to hug, and a Thanos to end properly.

 

He snapped his fingers, as his ashes transitioned back to real life, waking up in the safe room again, still holding on to the stone and feeling fine.


	19. I2I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by tevin campbell & rosie gaines

When Peter landed back on the floor again, he got to his feet and Mary Jane immediately hugged him.

 

As he embraced her closely, he noticed Thanos wasn’t in the safe room anymore. All he could do was whisper, “Thank you.” To Mary Jane before holding her hand and bringing her over to Shaggy.

 

Mary Jane smiled, realizing where she sent him, before Peter went to find his Guardians.

 

“Hey, where did Grimace go?” He blurted out, confused.

 

“Captain Marvel took care of him.” Tony put his arm around Peter Parker as he winked. “So did Hulk, we gotta give him credit.”

 

Shuri thanked Velma for everything before walking back over to T’Challa. T’Challa saluted Velma, followed by Okoye and M’Baku. “If you need anything, Wakanda has your back. Here, we offer you our bracelet.”

 

Velma accepted the bracelet, thanking them.

 

Mary Jane knelt down to scratch Scooby, as Shaggy smiled. He talked to Bucky and Steve about what would happen next, and how much of an honor it was to work with them. Mary Jane smiled at Bucky, pointing down to Scooby as Bucky got a nice lick from him.

 

Daphne was pointing to her high heeled boot, recommending them to Natasha. Fred untied his ascot and handed it over to Rhodey, as the room started to return back to how it did before, without the infinity stones. Everyone who was wiped out was slowly but surely regaining how they were before.

 

Thor had to give his brother Loki a hug, because it’s been a while. Doctor Strange thanked Wanda, before gently pushing her into the Laufeyson brother’s hug. Wanda giggled. Even Falcon hugged Doctor Strange.

 

Peter hadn’t appreciated Rocket enough, so when he saw him, he swung him around in a hug. “Trash Panda!”

 

“Drax!” He almost threw Rocket on the ground, before hugging Drax. Drax started to laugh with a great whooping sound. This made Mantis beam, as her antenna lit up.

 

Peter hugged Mantis, before moving on to Nebula. “What’s up sister in law, Nebs!” Nebula’s uninterested glare turned into an exhausted smile, her metal arms closing in for the hug.

 

He could finally make his way over to Gamora, and immediately leaned in to kiss her passionately, cupping his hands on her cheeks. Gamora smiled into the kiss, satisfied that he came back. “I love you. So much.” He broke away, sighing.

 

“Well gang, looks like we have to leave now.” Fred sighed.

 

“Does everyone have transportation back to the facility, if you’re an Avenger?” Tony questioned as the Wakandans began to leave, hearts full of love.

 

Most people nodded.

 

“I got the teleporter.” Velma held up the circular device, about to use it again, before Peter stopped them.

 

“Mystery Inc. is getting a ride home in the Milano.” Gamora decided, before the six friends walked over to the Guardians and agreed. Scooby was excited to go back to Coolsville.

 

“So this is it, everyone.” Peter Parker spoke up, as Loki prepared the bi-frost.

 

“Nah.” Loki waved, before transporting himself back to Asgard. He didn’t even want to cause another scene if he went to New York. Maybe he’d pop in later.

 

The Avengers found their way home, leaving Xandar but ready to come back for the recognition ceremony later. Nova Prime eventually walked upstairs to thank Peter and everyone else.

 

It was time for the Guardians and Mystery Inc leave the infinity war.

 

Walking onto the ship, Shaggy sat by the radio and put a mixtape of his own in, the first song being I 2 I from A Goofy Movie.

 

“Chedda whizzay!” Scooby laughed, as everyone else did too.

 

The song started to catch on with Peter, as him and Rocket flew home. Peter even put the love stone on his dashboard.Gamora and Nebula sat in their matching captains chairs, as Drax and Mantis were eating some food with Shaggy.

 

Xandar to Coolsvlle happened in a matter of minutes, as the landing was easy, deciding to land right in the middle of Lee Street.

 

“Well, gang.” Fred said rather seriously. “We’re home again.”

 

The doors of the Milano lowered, Mary Jane, Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne, Fred, and Velma waving as they parted off the ship. They were so grateful for everything, as they remembered Lee Street like it was yesterday in the third grade gang.

 

“Hey, wait!”


	20. Lifted Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (1985) by passion pit

“Peter. I almost forgot!” Velma ran back up onto the ship, and walked back to where her and Shuri were stationed for most of the war.

 

“So, when I forgot about Groot’s ashes, I felt so terrible. Somehow, me and Shuri re-arranged the DNA, and with the help of Mary Jane’s love, plus my lava lamp from the Purpose seed, look!”

She pulled out a small, potted plant in front of the Guardians, that had green, brown, and pink sprouts all over it.

 

“Groot!” Rocket sounded joyful, as everyone was captivated by the new Groot.

 

“It’s a girl!” Velma tickled the plant, as the feminine Groot flashed a smile.

 

“I am Groot!” She announced in a high pitched voice, her arms waving everywhere.

 

“Did you hear what she just said?” Mantis’s antenna lit up, grinning.

 

“She wants Dairy Queen.” Peter licked his lips, remembering his childhood happy place.

 

“Have you guys tried Dairy Queen?” He asked everyone, before taking Gamora’s hand and telling everyone to follow him.

 

Mystery Inc. was walking toward the van in Fred’s driveway, before Peter yelled for them.

 

“We’re going to DQ!!”

 

Soon enough, everyone was running behind Peter Quill to the Dairy Queen on the corner of Lee Street, not a care in the world. This would be a humungous order for the employees, but his friends had humungous appetites and even bigger hearts. This was the life. It was like he was 8 again.

 

Everyone got their usual orders, the Guardians differed. Drax and Mantis got a Dilly Bar, original of course, Mantis tried a cookie dough blizzard, Nebula had an Arctic Rush slush, Gamora got an orange smoothie, and Peter had his traditional small chocolate cone. And sitting at the Guardians table, watching baby Groot collect ice cream drops in her soil, he looked across at Mystery Inc’s regular table, all of them giggling and grinning like old times. He saw Mary Jane gaze directly at Peter and smile, taking a lick of her vanilla cone and giggling as Shaggy got in a little ice cream fight with Scooby.

 

Peter laughed too, as Nebula got a brain freeze, and Gamora made funny slurping sounds that Drax and Mantis absolutely lost it over. Rocket was feeding Groot some of his extra Oreo pieces in his blizzard.

 

If only he knew his mom’s Dairy Queen order. She would of loved the story of the infinity war he fought, with not only his best friends, but love. All thanks to her.

 

1984, 2018. Those were some good years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY COMPLETED! what do you think? what a way to go out. thank you so much for reading mystery infinity, I really hope you loved it as much as I did. make sure you follow my twitter @cosmicreas and stay tuned for more :)


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